ry depressing. Jeffrey's
talk, though inconclusive, had stirred in John's mind an uneasiness
which was near to apprehension. He turned and walked about the familiar
room, recognizing the well-known furniture, his mother's picture over
the mantel, the bookshelves filled with his boyhood's accumulations, the
well-remembered pattern of the carpet, and the wall-paper--nothing was
changed. It was all as he had left it two years ago, and for the time it
seemed as if he had merely dreamed the life and experiences of those
years. Indeed, it was with difficulty that he recalled any of them for
the moment. And then suddenly there came into his mind the thought that
he was at the beginning of a new epoch--that on this day his boyhood
ended, for up to then he had been but a boy. The thought was very vivid.
It had come, the time when he must take upon himself the
responsibilities of his own life, and make it for himself; the time
which he had looked forward to as to come some day, but not hitherto at
any particular moment, and so not to be very seriously considered.

It has been said that life had always been made easy for him, and that
he had accepted the situation without protest. To easy-going natures the
thought of any radical change in the current of affairs is usually
unwelcome, but he was too young to find it really repugnant; and then,
too, as he walked about the room with his hands in his pockets, it was
further revealed to him that he had recently found a motive and impulse
such as he had never had before. He recalled the talk that he had had
with the companion of his voyage. He thought of her as one who could be
tender to misfortune and charitable to incapacity, but who would have
nothing but scorn for shiftlessness and malingering; and he realized
that he had never cared for anything as for the good opinion of that
young woman. No, there should be for him no more sauntering in the vales
and groves, no more of loitering or dallying. He would take his place in
the working world, and perhaps--some day--

A thought came to him with the impact of a blow: What could he do? What
work was there for him? How could he pull his weight in the boat? All
his life he had depended upon some one else, with easy-going
thoughtlessness. Hardly had it ever really occurred to him that he
might have to make a career for himself. Of business he had thought as
something which he should undertake some time, but it was always a
business ready mad