ANGEL PAVEMENT

tie;' having heard Evelyn refer to her as "Mattie,"
and Miss Matfield did not feel like correcting him. This
only made everything more absurd. It was like taking
part in a charade.

"I think you know why I'm here, Miss Mattie/' he
began, in deep vibrating tones. "I want to persuade this
little girl of mine to go overseas with me, to help me
with the great work I am doing and to be by my side/'

She nodded and made a vague affirmatory noise. It
was all she could do, but then he did not want anything
more.

"A father has his feelings, Miss Mattie. We don't
hear much about them. He keeps them to himself.
He hides them, buries them," he continued, with fine
emotional effect, clearly enjoying himself. "An English-
man doesn't like to make a display of these things. It's
part of the tradition—the great tradition—of our race.
If we suffer, Miss Mattie, we like to suffer in silence.
Isn't that so? The Britisher—now, just a moment. I
know what you're going to say."

"Do you?"

"I do. You're going to say that you don't like that
word 'Britisher.'"

"I don't like it much, I must say," Miss Macficld
confessed.

"I knew you didn't. I didn't at one time. I detested
the term. I wouldn't have it at all. But my work, my
travels up and down the Empire have taught me better.
We must have something that describes not an English-
man, not a Scotsman, or a Canadian or an Australian,
but simply a subject of the great Empire itself, and the
only word for that is 'Britisher.' Don't resent it, Miss
Mattie. It stands for a great ideal. And I say that the