IT was not because life was not good enough that Ellen Melville<br >was crying as she sat by the window. The world， indeed， even<br >so much of it as could be seen from her window， was extrava-<br >gantly beautiful. The office of Mr. Mactavish James， Writer<br >to the Signet， was in one of those decent grey streets that lie<br >high on the northward slope of Edinburgh New Town， and<br >Ellen was looking up the side-street that opened just opposite<br >and revealed， menacing as the rattle of spears， the black rock<br >and bastions Gf the Castle against the white beamless glare of<br >the southern sky. And it was the hour of the clear Edinburgh<br >twilight， that strange time when the world seems to have for-<br >gotten the sun though it keeps its colour ; it could still be seen<br >that the moss between the cobblestones was a wet bright green，<br >and that a red autumn had been busy with the wind-nipped<br >trees， yet these things were not gay， but cold and remote as<br >brightness might be on the bed of a deep stream， ，fathoms beneath<br >the visitation of the sun. At this time all the town was ghostly，<br >and she loved it so. She took her mind by the arm and marched<br >it up and down among the sights of Edinburgh， telling it that<br >to be weeping with discontent in such a place was a scandalous<br >turning up of the nose at good mercies. Now the Castle Es-<br >planade， that all day had proudly supported the harsh， virile<br >sounds and colours of the drilling regiments， would show to the<br >slums its blank surface， bleached bone-white by the winds that<br >raced above the city smoke. Now the Cowgate and the Canon-<br >gate would be given over to the drama of the disorderly night ;<br >the shim-dwellers would foregather about the rotting doors of<br >dead men s mansions and brawl among the not less brawling<br >ghosts of a past that here never speaks of peace， but only of<br >blood and argument. And Holyrood， under a black bank sur-<br >mounted by a low bitten cliff， would lie like the camp of an<br >invading and terrified army She stopped and said， "Yon<br > D<br >