210 



TlltJ AMERICAN BEE KEEP Ell. 



Jnl(, 



woman when her duty confronted her, 

 and she knew as well now as later on 

 that she must do what she could to 

 atone to ti.e poor fellow who was en- 

 during the iorture of an awful hurt. 



All day she worked in silence, but 

 she saw the picture of the kind eyes 

 ever before iier, and she resolved that 

 she would buy an evening paper and in 

 the account of the accident would as- 

 certain the name of the man who at one 

 bound was raised to the dignity of a hero 

 and who was a hero, too, as great as 

 any of those whose names were blazon- 

 ed on fame's banner. What if he was 

 only a poiiccman and the saving of life 

 was in the iiue of his duty? No man is 

 tequired to risk his own life to save 

 that of another, and as Marie remem- 

 bered that, save a bruise or two, shy 

 bad escaped without injury while hel 

 rescuer was sulfering, and all for her 

 sake, she whi.spered low to her heart 

 not "the hero," or "a hero," but "my 

 hero." And she blushed a little as she 

 said it, but somehow it was so much 

 like music to her that she did not drive 

 it away, but kept it near her and around 

 it wove dreams. 



When she started home in the evening, 

 from the tirst newsboy she came across 

 she bought a paper and with rare good 

 fortune tintiing a seat in the car which 

 bore her homeward she quickly unfold- 

 ed the paper and began to scan the 

 headlines. There were big, double head- 

 lines on the first page, but there was 

 nothing about the affair which was of 

 such vita: interest to her, and she turned 

 the paj.ir o\er, and — there it was, 

 "TheD.cd of a Hero, " and the big 

 |oiicemaii- -.vhose natue was Williiiin 

 Smith, nothing but plain William 

 ??mith — was much praised for his noble 

 deed in "saving the life of a foolish 

 woman" — and here Marie nodded her 

 head in assent — and the "story" weut 

 on to say that, "while he would not 

 lose hirj leg, yc t the officer would be 

 crippled for life," etc. But what Marie 

 wanted to know was where the hurt 

 man was to be found, and this the 

 newspaper story failed to tell beyond 

 the fact that he had been taken to a 

 hospital. 



Marie sighed and puckered her white 

 forehead into a frown, while she 

 thought of a "way, " and then at the 

 next corner she ciiaibed off tlie car iuk? 



waited for a policeman. She askeu lum 

 if he knew where Officer William 

 Smith, who was hurt by a cable car 

 that morning, had been taken, but the 

 policeman did not know anything about 

 the accident, and he did not know Offi- 

 cer William ISniith, and, being a gruff 

 fellow and tired of the mud and other 

 disagreeable things which follow a 

 rainy day, he added he "didn't care. " 

 Marie was also tired, and it was past 

 her dinner time, but she wei»t on until 

 she found another wearer of the star, 

 and to him she put the same query re- 

 garding Ofncer Smith. This time she 

 was given the desired information, and 

 she boaiMCd another car, with a hefrt 

 which held in it a determined purpose. 



The next morning she weut to work 

 as usual, but when it was time to re- 

 turn home she asked her emploj^er for a 

 "day off," and because of the unusual 

 request readily secured permission to be 

 away the whole of the next day. TJtat 

 night when Marie reached home he 

 carried somewhere next to her innocent 

 heart a crisp, new |1 bill, and this she 

 placed inside of her worn little pocket- 

 book. 



Yes, she meant to do it — .she meant 

 to buy some flowers and some fruit and 

 take them to her "hero," and that 

 night she did not feel so lonely as t lie 

 had done when she remembered that 

 her mother was lying in the grave far 

 from her own sunny France, for a new 

 interest had taken possession of her, and 

 a new purpose had been evolved in hcv 

 brain through a sense of justice. She 

 carefully brushed the pretty brown h'<.ir 

 the next morning and tacLed a li*tle 

 fresh lace in hi r collar and mended a 

 very siuall hole in her best gloves be- 

 fore i.utiing them on, and then, when 

 she was quite neat and very, very 

 sweet, she v^'ent forth in search of flow- 

 ers. She bought a single pink rose and 

 a few ferns and a half dozen white car- 

 nations, and then she bought a tiny 

 basket of pinkish green grapes, and '-he 

 was ready to find the hospital. 



It was a long ride, but not a very 

 long walk, and finally Marie, with her 

 heart fluttering like a bird in its cage, 

 found herself in the presence of the 

 man who but yesterday was strong and 

 well, but N\ho today was as helpless as 

 an infant. His eyes did not shrink 

 when Marie stood beside his narrow 



