ISLANDS 63 



and scraped by the same eight of hearts, and 

 the combination of ingredients which the last 

 purchaser obtained must surely have had some 

 radical effect on his system — salubrious or other- 

 wise. 



Then came the unusual one — ^the super person 

 who is always to be discovered sooner or later. 

 Externally she was indistinguishable from the 

 host of her sisters. She was garbed in a 

 wrapper, flowing and reaching the ground, 

 purple, and pocked with large white spots. A 

 diminutive turban of yellow and red madras 

 was surmounted by an ancient and crownless 

 straw hat, but at the first word she was revealed. 

 A British subject, she was here at the eruption 

 fifteen years ago. That day she and one of her 

 daughters happened to be far away from St. 

 Pierre. When the explosion came, she was out- 

 side the danger zone, but her husband, son and 

 other daughter were burned to death. She re- 

 gretted the impoliteness of the French here and 

 apologized for them for crowding us. Later 

 she brought a gift of rose bananas to Mary 

 Hammond, saying that Americans had given 

 her food and clothes when she lost everything. 



The crowd was curious, thoughtless, selfish, 



