"Well, he saw that you didn't miss it, after all!" said she, with a
welcoming light for Julia in her sharp eyes, though she did not smile.
"Sit down! I've been hearing nice things about you, my dear! I said to
Sally, 'So there _is_ something in old maids' children, eh?'" Miss Toland
chuckled; she was well pleased with her protegee. Julia settled herself
comfortably beside her. She liked to watch the running gray water, and
to feel the cold December wind in her face. The thought of Mark was
always with her, poor Mark! so much more in her heart dead than living!
But to-day his memory seemed only a part of the tender past; it was
toward the future that her heart turned; she felt young and strong and
full of hope.
In the new year Jim began to come pretty regularly to the settlement
house. Sometimes he stayed but for two minutes, never for more than ten,
and usually, even if Julia was out, he left some little gift for her, a
book or a magazine, flower seeds, or violets, or a box of candy. She
would glance up from the soiled and rumpled sewing of some small girl to
find Jim smiling at her from the stage door, or come back from her
little shopping round and have a moment's chat with him on the steps.
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