wo years I have
been wandering from one part of the country to another, hoping that some
day I would recognize a familiar spot. I have done odd jobs, at times,
but my fortunes went from bad to worse until of late I have become no
better than the typical tramp."

"How did you secure employment as a book-keeper for Skeelty?" asked
Uncle John.

"I heard a new mill had started at Royal and walked up there to inquire
for work. The manager asked if I could keep books, and I said yes."

"Have you ever kept books before?"

"Not that I know of; but I did it very well. I seemed to comprehend the
work at once, and needed no instruction. Often during these two years I
have encountered similar curious conditions. I sold goods in a store and
seemed to know the stocks; I worked two weeks in a telegraph office and
discovered I knew the code perfectly; I've shod horses for a country
blacksmith, wired a house for electric lights and compounded
prescriptions in a drug store. Whatever I have undertaken to do I seem
able to accomplish, and so it is hard for me to guess what profession I
followed before my memory deserted me."

"You did not retain any position for long, it seems," remarked Uncle
John.

"No; I was always impatient to move on, always hoping to arrive at some
place so familiar that my lost memory would return to me. The work I
have mentioned was nearly all secured during the first year. After I
became seedy and disreputable in appearance people were more apt to
suspect me and work was harder to obtain."

"Why did you come to Millville?" asked Louise.

"You brought me here," he answered, with a smile. "I caught a ride on
your private car, when it left New York, not caring much where it might
take me. When I woke up the next morning the car was sidetracked at
Chazy Junction, and as this is a section I have never before explored I
decided to stay here for a time. That is all of my story, I believe."

"Quite remarkable!" declared Mr. Merrick, emphatically. The girls, too,
had been intensely interested in the strange recital.

"You seem educated," said Patsy thoughtfully; "therefore you must have
come from a good family."

"That does not seem conclusive," replied Thursday Smith, deprecatingly,
"although I naturally hope my family was respectable. I have been
inclined to resent the fact that none of my friends or relatives has
ever inquired what became of me."

"Are you sure they have not?"

"I have watched the paper