His Hour

And then she kissed her goddaughter good-night, but just at the door

she paused. "You were not shocked about the Alexandrian dancers, I

hope, child?" she said. "If one knew the truth, they were poor people

who were starving, probably, and Gritzko paid them money and helped

them out of the kindness of his heart--those are the sort of things he

generally does I find when I investigate, so I never pay attention to

what he says."

Tamara, left to herself, gazed into the glowing embers of her wood

fire.

"I wonder--I wonder," she said. But what she wondered she hardly dared

admit--even to herself.