John Oliver Hobbes

“ To look at he was pale, and, to the unseeing eye, insignificant; a man who could sit for hours anywhere and in any company unobserved and silent—indeed, his silence at all times was tragic. To a woman like Mrs. Grimmage it was even awful and mysterious ”

“ I feel very old, much older than you, really, and I—I do feel so tired. I am afraid I have been overworking."
"Work is good," murmured Legge, "the only good—except Hope. I have lots of Hope."
"Oh, yes," said Anna, "there is Hope." She looked hopeless.
"I have been harder hit than you," said Legge. "I died twelve years ago; the only thing about me that lives is my stomach. I remember they fed it with chops [11] —on the day She was buried. Life is certainly humorous."
They were both laughing when Mrs. Grimmage came in with the tea. ”

“ His two little girls he kept at a school in the country; he had no friends who called to see him—if he had any, he saw them in town: the only creature who ventured to Avenue Villas was, oddly enough, a young and beautiful woman. She was his niece, and Mrs. Grimmage knew her as "Mrs. Christian." She had heard Legge address her as "Anna." But she came very seldom, and he never referred to her. Months would pass, when the good Grimmage could only wonder whether she were dead or gone abroad. ”