hich he
had hoped would never again for him awake. And the river swept through
its gray world to the crashing turmoil at Elbow Rock like a thing doomed
to seek forever in its own irresistible might the destruction of its
ever-living self.

As one moving in a world of dreams, he went about his morning's work.
"Old Prince" whinnied his usual greeting, but received no answer. "Bess"
met him at the barnyard gate, but he did not speak. The sun leaped
above the mountain-tops, and the world was filled with the beauty of
its golden glory. From tree and bush and swaying weed, from forest and
pasture, and garden and willow-fringed river-bank, the birds voiced
their happy greetings to the new day. But the man neither saw nor heard.

When he went to the house with his full milk-pail, and Betty Jo met him
at the kitchen-door with her cheery "Good-morning!" he tried resolutely
to free himself from the mood which possessed him, but only partially
succeeded. Several times, as the two faced each other across the
breakfast table, Brian saw the gray eyes filled with questioning
anxiety, as though Betty Jo, also, felt the presence of some forbidding
spectre at the meal.

After several vain attempts to find something they could talk about,
Betty Jo boldly acknowledged the situation by saying: "What in the world
is the matter with us, this morning, Mr. Burns? I am possessed with the
feeling that there is some one or something behind me. I want to look
over my shoulder every minute."

At her words, Brian involuntarily turned his head for a quick backward
glance.

"There!" cried Betty Jo, with a nervous laugh, not at all like her
normal, well-poised self. "You feel it, too!"

Brian forced a laugh in return: "It is the weather, I guess." He tried
to speak with casual ease. "The atmosphere is full of electricity this
morning. We'll have a thunder-storm before night, probably."

"And was it the electricity in the air that kept you tramping up and
down your room last night until almost morning?" she demanded abruptly,
with her characteristic opposition to any evasion of the question at
issue.

Brian retorted with a smile: "And how do you know that I tramped up and
down my room last night?"

The color in Betty Jo's cheeks deepened as she answered, "I did not
sleep very well either."

"But, I surely did not make noise enough for you to hear in your room?"
persisted Brian.

The color deepened still more in Betty Jo's checks, as she ans