Everybodys Lonesome | Page 7

that made Mary Alice
feel sorry for him; but she didn't like to ask any more questions.
They had a delightful time. Mary Alice had never met a man she
enjoyed so much. He liked to "play" as much as Godmother did, and
they talked most confidentially about their likes and dislikes, many of
which seemed to be mutual. Mary Alice admitted to him how she
disliked to meet strangers, and he admitted to her that he felt the very
same way.
Godmother tarried and tarried, and at six o'clock the gentleman said he
must go.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Mary Alice. "I'm sorry! I'm having such a nice
time."
"So am I," he echoed gallantly, "but I'm hoping you will ask me again."
"Indeed I will!" she cried. "We seem to--to get on together beautifully."
"We do," he agreed, "and if it's a rare experience for you, I don't mind
telling you it is for me too."
He couldn't have been gone more than ten minutes when Godmother
came in.
"That gentleman called," Mary Alice told her. "He's just gone. We had

a lovely time."
"I know," said Godmother, "I met him down-stairs and we've been
chatting. He says he doesn't know when he's spent a pleasanter hour."
"Poor man!" murmured Mary Alice, "he seems to be a lonely body."
"He is," said Godmother. "He likes to come in here, once in a while, for
a cup of tea and an hour's chat. And I'm always glad to have him."
"I should think so!" agreed Mary Alice. "He ate nearly a whole plate of
toast."
Godmother laughed so heartily that Mary Alice was a little mystified.
She didn't see the joke in being hungry. She didn't even see it when
Godmother told her who the man was.
"Not really?" gasped Mary Alice. Godmother nodded. "Why, he told
me himself----!" Mary Alice began; and then stopped to put two and
two together. It was all very astounding, but there was no reason why
what he had told her and what Godmother said might not both be true.
"If I had known!" she said, sinking down, weak in the knees, into the
nearest chair.
"That was what gave him his happy hour," said Godmother. "You
didn't know! It is so hard for him to get away from people who
know--to find people who are able to forget. That's why he likes to
come here; I try to help him forget, for an hour, once in a while, at
'candle-lightin' time.'"
"I see," murmured Mary Alice.
The man was one of those great world-powers of finance whose
transactions filled columns of the newspapers and were familiar to
almost every school child.
That night when Godmother was tucking Mary Alice in, they had a
long, long talk about the caller of the afternoon and about some other

people Godmother knew, and about how sad a thing it is to take for
granted about any person certain qualities we think must go with his
estate.
"And now," said Godmother, "I'm going to tell you the Secret."
And she did. Then turned out the light, kissed Mary Alice one more
time, and left her to think about it.

V
GOING TO THE PARTY
"Now," said Godmother, the very next morning after she had told Mary
Alice the Secret, "to see how it works! This evening I am going to take
you to a most delightful place."
"What kind of a place?" Mary Alice begged to know. Already, despite
the Secret, she was feeling fearful.
Godmother squeezed Mary Alice's hand sympathetically; and then,
because that was not enough, she dropped a brief kiss on Mary Alice's
anxious young forehead. "I know how you feel, dear," she whispered.
"All of us, I guess, have fairy charms that we're afraid to use. Others
have used them, we know, and found them miraculous. But somehow,
we're afraid. I'm all undecided in my mind whether to tell you about
this place we're going to, or not to tell you about it. I want to do what is
easiest for you. Now, you think! It probably won't be a very large
assembly. These dear people, who have many friends, are at home on
Friday evenings. Sometimes a large number call, sometimes only a few.
And in New York, you know, people are not 'introduced round'; you
just meet such of your fellow guests as happen to 'come your way,' so
to speak. That is, if there are many. We'll go down and call this
evening--take our chance of few or many, and try out our Secret. And
I'll do just as you think you'd like best; I'll tell you about the people
we're going to see and try to guess as well as I can who else may be
there. Or I won't