attractive.

The house itself looked like a withered and gnarly apple left hanging
upon the tree from the year before. In its forlorn nakedness it actually
cried out for a coat of paint. Each individual shingle was curled and
cracked. Only the superior workmanship of a former time kept the Day
roof tight and defended the family from storms.

Some hours later the _Constance Colfax_ came into view around a distant
point in the lake shore. Mr. Day had camped upon the identical bench
again and was still sucking at the stem of his corncob pipe.

"Wal," he groaned, "I 'xpect I've got to go down to meet that gal of
Broxton's. And the sun's mighty hot this mawnin'."

"You wouldn't feel it so, if ye hadn't been too 'tarnal lazy to change
yer seat," sniffed his wife. "Now, you mind, Jase! That board money
comes to me, or you can take Broxton's gal to the _ho_-tel."

Mr. Day shambled out of the front gate without making reply.

"Drat the man!" muttered his wife. "If I could jes' git a rise out o'
him onc't----"

It was not far to the dock. Indeed, Poketown was so compactly built on
the steep hillside that there was scarcely a house within its borders
from which a boy could not have tossed a pebble into the waters of the
cove. Jason strolled along in the shade, passing the time of day with
such neighbors as were equally disengaged, and spreading the news of his
niece's expected arrival.

As he passed along the lane which later debouched upon the main
thoroughfare of Poketown, it was evident to the most casual glance that
the old Day house was not the only dwelling far along in a state of
decay. Poketown was full of such.

On the street leading directly to the dock there were several
well-cared-for estates--some of them wedged in between blocks of
two-story frame buildings, the first floors of which were occupied by
stores of various kinds. The post office had a building to itself. The
Lake View Inn was not unattractive, its side piazza overlooking the cove
and the lake spread beyond.

But the rutty, dusty road showed that it had been rutty and muddy in the
earlier spring. The flagstones of the sidewalks were broken, and the
walks themselves ill kept. The gutters were overgrown with grass and
weeds. Before the shops the undefended tree trunks were gnawed into
grotesque patterns by the farmers' hungry beasts. Hardware was at a
premium in Poketown, for a dozen gates along the line were hung with
leather hinges, and bits of