Author of "The Henchman," "The Mastery,"
etc., etc.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
ROSE CECIL O'NEILL
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1907
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1907,
By INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE COMPANY.
Copyright, 1907,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1907.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK - BOSTON - CHICAGO
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MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
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THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO
To
E. M. R.
AN OPTIMIST
I
The girl heard the key rasp in the lock and the door open, but she didnot turn.
"When I enter the room, rise," directed an even voice.
The new inmate obeyed disdainfully. The superintendent, a middle-agedwoman of precise bearing and crisp accent, took possession of the onechair, and flattened a note-book across an angular knee.
"Is Jean Fanshaw your full name?" she began.
"I'm called Jack."
"Jack!" The descending pencil paused disapprovingly in mid-air. "Youwere committed to the refuge as Jean."
"Everybody calls me Jack," persisted the girl shortly—"everybody."
"Does your mother?"
Her face clouded. "No," she admitted; "but my father did. He began it,and I like it. Why isn't it as good as Jean? Both come from John."
"It is not womanly," said Miss Blair, as one having authority. "Womenof refinement don't adopt men's names."
"How about George Eliot?" Jean promptly countered. "And that otherGeorge—the French woman?"
The superintendent battled to mask her astonishment. Case-hardened by adozen years' close contact with moral perverts, budding criminals, andthe half-insane, she plumed herself that she was not easily taken offher guard. But the unexpected had befallen. The newcomer had given hera sensation, and moreover she knew it. Jean Fanshaw's dark eyes exultedinsolently in her victory.
Miss Blair took formal refuge in her notes. "Birthplace?" she continued.
"Shawnee Springs."
"Age?"
"Seventeen, two months ago—September tenth."
The official jotted "American" under the heading of nationality, andsaid,—
"Where were your parents born?"
"Father hailed from the South—from Virginia." Her face lightedcuriously. "His people once owned slaves."
"And your mother?"
The girl's interest in her ancestry flagged. "Pure Shawnee Springs."She flung off the characterization with scorn. "Pure,