Mothers of men

Marie sat staring at the thin, hard-featured man opposite her. His eyes, through the great bone spectacles, were magnified till they looked like some gigantic insect's, and his...

During the long ride across the city, old Minna kept up a steady chatter. Her one idea was to comfort the girl. There was no thought of her own necessity for seeking a new posit...

The first few weeks in her new home were not so unpleasant as Marie had anticipated. Frau Schultz and her good husband took the girl under their wing, and in their simple kindly...

To Marie, peeping out from the tiny, none-too-clean room, they had given her to dress in, it seemed far worse than it really was, for the girl's eyes had only looked on life at...

One night, as she waited between songs, Marie let her eyes wander about the smoke-filled room and wondered, as she heard the occasional bursts of laughter, if these people who c...

Marie stood a moment at the door of her little dressing-room, before running the gauntlet between its shelter and the platform, where, through the wreaths of smoke, she could se...

Marie began to sing only for one table, for the one pair of ears for whose appreciation she cared. Love had not entered her thoughts, only a deep interest. This man was so unlik...

The huntsman had successfully stalked the doe. With the ingenuity and skill of long experience he had brought her to bay. The trophy won, he had gone, leaving his victim sufferi...

The days that followed were like a dream to Marie. At first there were tears and misgivings. Wonderment at what the Schultzes were thinking of her staying away so long, racked h...

She seldom touched the piano when he was near, for although she played well, she lacked the roundness of touch, the depth of tone which pleased his fastidious ear. But during th...

There was a trolley line along the end of the street where Von Pfaffen lived, and almost without her own volition, Marie found herself making toward it. She boarded the first tr...

Marie's heart sank. Suppose the Le Grands no longer lived here! Suppose a thousand things! But realizing that the man must be paid, she decided to do as he suggested. She stoope...

The days passed swiftly for Marie. The kindly hearts of the Le Grands were won almost immediately by her sweetness and charm, her appealing air of innocence that seemed to deman...

In her room that night, after he had left, Marie slipped off the white frock, shook out the folds almost tenderly and hung it carefully away. She stood for a moment in deep thou...

For some time after this, de la Motte did not come to the Avenue Victor Hugo. Cousin Jules reported that he was busy with his military duties. There was some activity at the _ca...

Gerome came forward to greet her as she stood shyly at the door, and the light in his eyes was such a happy one that Marie felt as though she were lifted into Heaven.

As he threw the long windows wide, the morning after their arrival, he uttered an involuntary exclamation at the scene of beauty spread before him. They had arrived late the nig...

The little apartment in the Avenue d'Antin shone like a carefully kept doll's house. Marie, indulging her fancy for dainty clothes, went about the tiny rooms dressed in the pret...

In ghastly numbers, the wounded began pouring into Paris, a sad and terrible procession. About the railroad stations, crowds were gathered. Mothers, sisters, wives, sweethearts...

When the news came to the château, she refused to believe it; such a thing was impossible! Maurice was to fare forth and fight for France, he was to fly her colors from his helm...

"I am bringing my wife to stay with you," it said. "Paris is growing uncomfortable for her, for though she is as loyal as I am myself, there are those who are unkind because of...

Paulette, when she left her parents, threw a scarf about her shoulders and ran across the courtyard to the gate house. She longed for the sympathetic love of old Nanine, on whos...

Madame's face was sad as she comforted the girl. Her own sorrow and foreboding were kept close shut in her heart. But self-command is measured by those rare occasions when the e...

The night was warm for October, and a late moon was just rising. The garden seemed so peaceful, only the distant muttering of the guns constantly reminded one that not far away...

The light of the General's cigar had scarcely disappeared when the door opened softly, and a head was cautiously thrust in. After a careful look about, Von Pfaffen entered. His...

Madame, all kindness and solicitude, showed Marie to her room. Everything she could, she did to make the girl forget the sting of Paulette's words. She insisted upon her tasting...

Out of the shadows came the whispered command. Marie staggered back against the wall with a stifled scream as she turned and looked into the face of the man she abhorred. He had...

The clock had chimed the hour, the half, and the hour again, and still Marie lay tossing with mental anguish under the heavy blue hangings of the great bed. What terrible thing...

The great stairway took a wide turn at a sort of landing about halfway down, from where the whole length of the hall could be seen, as well as the rooms opening upon the corrido...

Angéle, her round arms bare, a great apron tied about her, her feet in wooden sabots, was busy scrubbing the kitchen floor of the gate house when the first company arrived. Sold...

Her voice was calm and even, her clear eyes looked into his bravely, unflinchingly. These two had lived together so long that the spoken word was unnecessary to convey their tho...

When Von Pfaffen came into the salon, the curtains were still drawn across the windows, the chairs still awry, and on the little escritoire papers lay scattered about as they ha...

Madame coming in later, found the room still disordered, and as she rang the bell, she shook her head over the interrupted routine of the household. Even with all the serious pr...

When Nanine and Paulette came down the great stairway a few minutes later, the girl was trembling with excitement. She was dressed in the field uniform of an army nurse. Her che...

The long road that led through the village and on into Sains lay before Paulette like an unexplored country. The familiar smoothness was gone, cut into by heavy army wagons and...

In the château, Madame and Marie, together with the old Breton woman, were the only ones left. After Paulette's departure they searched for Antoine, but found that he had gone,...

The men entered through the long window the women opened for them, and laid their burden on the couch. As they did so, the fainting man revived and lifted his head. With a cry N...

For awhile she lay motionless, half stunned by the force of the explosion. When full consciousness returned to her the firing had grown fainter, more infrequent. She rose to her...

When there has been a shade or promise of evil hanging over our lives, when we have waked each morning with the dread of what the day may bring, and go to bed at night to toss a...

"He found me singing in a little Bohemian café; it was the only thing I could do to earn my living. He befriended me, was kind to me, and before I knew where I was drifting, it...

Night had fallen, dull, black, the sky overhung with great masses of heavy clouds. Like a ghost of herself Marie sat staring out of the window into the depths of the deserted ga...