Could  she,  too,  have  formed  this  design  ?     Har-


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THE  ROSE-GARDEN.  197

old's  wild  guess  was  at  least  partly  wrong,  how-
ever, for  she  went  on :  —

"  No,  not  exactly  that.  I  was  thinking  only  of
my  own  brief  acquaintance  with  Mrs.  Rawley  dur-
ing the  time  of  her  editorial  activity.  And  that
reminded  me  of  what  she  used  to  tell  me  about
Mr.  Escott.  I  was  just  then  on  the  so-called  ex-
ecutive board,  Mr..  Harold,  of  a  ladies'  society  for
the  elevation  of  the  homeless,  or  for  something  of
that  sort.  I  won't  pretend,  of  course,  to  tell  you
the  name  rightly,  for  I  was  never  of  any  use  on
that  board,  or  on  any  other  woman's  enterprise ;
and  this  particular  society  had  an  eternally  long
name.  But  somebody  forced  me  into  the  business,
and  so  I  was  for  a  while  an  executive  officer,  with
a  face  as  long  as  the  society's  name  itself.  I  was
a  very  grave  person  in  those  days.  And  so  Mrs.
Rawley  and  I  often  met  on  semi-official  business.
I  'm  sure  I  always  stood  in  the  greatest  awe  of
her.  She  used  to  look  clear  through  me  with  her
righteous  eyes ;  she  has  a  glance  that 's  as  solemn
as  the  last  trump.  But,  in  the  course  of  our  ac-
quaintance, she  used  to  talk  a  little  of  Alf  Escott.
