“Ah!” said Thord, and he studied the looks and bearing of the stranger with increasing curiosity. “What do you think of it?”
“What do I think? May I ask, without offence, what you think?”
“I think,” said Thord slowly, “that the King has for once in his life done a wise thing.”
“‘For once in his life!’” repeated the stranger dubiously—“Then I presume your King is, generally speaking, a fool?”
“If you are a subject of his—” began Thord slowly——
“Thank Heaven, I am not! I am a mere wanderer—a literary loafer—a student of men and manners. I read books, and I write them too,—this will perhaps explain the eccentricity of my behaviour in trying to read under the lamplight in the rain!”
He smiled again, and the smile was irresistibly pleasant. Something about him attracted Thord, and after a pause he asked:
“If you are, as you say, a wanderer and a stranger in this town, can I be of service to you?”
“You are very kind!” said the other, turning a pair of deep, dark, grey meditative eyes upon him,—“And I am infinitely obliged to you for the suggestion. But I really want nothing. As a matter of fact, I am waiting for two friends of mine who have just gone into one of the foul and filthy habitations here, to see what they can do for a suddenly bereaved family. The husband and father fell dead in the street before our eyes,—and those who picked him up said he was drunk, but it turned out that he was merely starved,—merely!—you understand? Merely starved! We found his home,—and the poor widow is wailing and weeping, and the children are crying for food. I confess myself quite unable to bear the sight, and so I have sent all the money I had about me to help them for to-night at least. By my faith, they are most hopelessly, incurably miserable!”
“Their lot is exceedingly common in these quarters,” said Thord, sorrowfully. “Day after day, night after night, men, women and children toil, suffer and die here without ever knowing what it is to have one hour of free fresh air, one day of rest and joy! Yet this is a great city,—and we live in a civilized country!” He smiled bitterly, then added—“You have done a good action; and you need no thanks, or I would thank you; for my life’s work lies among these wretched poor, and I am familiar with their tragic histories. Good-night!”