gh it was said he seldom paid the full
market price for them. He had walked home because it was impossible to
keep warm driving, and felt tired and morose. The man had passed his
prime and was beginning to find the labour he had never shirked more
irksome than it had been, while he dispensed with a hired hand in
winter, when there was less to be done. Clarke neglected no
opportunity of saving a dollar.

When he had finished in the stable, he crossed the snow to the house,
which was dark and silent. After the bustle and stir of London where
he had spent some time, it was depressing to come back to the empty
dwelling, and he was glad that he had saved himself the task of getting
supper. Shaking the snow from his furs, he lighted the lamp and filled
up the stove before he sat down wearily. The small room was not a
cheerful place in which to spend the winter nights alone, though he
remembered that for a number of years he had not noticed this. Walls
and floor were uncovered and roughly boarded with heat-cracked lumber;
the stove was rusty and gave out a smell of warm iron, while a black
distillate had dripped from its pipe. There were, however, several
well-filled bookcases and one or two comfortable chairs.

Clarke lighted his pipe and drawing his seat as near the stove as
possible opened an English newspaper, which contained some news that
interested him. A short paragraph stated that Captain Bertram
Challoner, then stationed at Delhi, had received an appointment which
would shortly necessitate his return from India. This, Clarke
imagined, might be turned to good account, but the matter demanded
thought, and for a time he sat motionless, deeply pondering. His
farming had prospered, though the bare and laborious life had tried him
hard, and he had made some money by more questionable means, lending to
unfortunate neighbours at extortionate interest and foreclosing on
their possessions. No defaulter got any mercy at his hands and shrewd
sellers of seed and implements took precautions when they dealt with
him.

His money, however, would not last him long if he returned to England
and attempted to regain a footing in his profession, and he had
daringly schemed to increase it. Glancing across the room, his eyes
rested on a bookcase, with a curious smile. It contained works on
hypnotism, telepathy, and psychological speculations in general, and he
had studied some with ironical amusement and others with a quick