er, and of uniform, symbolical only of the great
power behind; of the long arm of the State; of the insistence of the law,
which did not rely upon force alone, but on the certainty of its
administration. In such conditions the smallest brain was bound to expand,
to take on qualities of judgment and temperateness which would never be
developed in ordinary circumstances. In the case of Jim Templeton, who
needed no stimulant to his intellect, but rather a steadying quality, a
sense of proportion, the daily routine, the command of men, the diverse
nature of his duties, half civil, half military, the personal appeals made
on all sides by the people of the country for advice, for help, for
settlement of disputes, for information which his well-instructed mind
could give--all these modified the romantic brilliance of his intellect,
made it and himself more human.

It had not come to him all at once. His intellect at first stood in his
way. His love of paradox, his deep observation, his insight--all made him
inherently satirical, though not cruelly so; but satire had become pure
whimsicality at last; and he came to see that, on the whole, the world was
imperfect, but also, on the whole, was moving toward perfection rather
than imperfection. He grew to realize that what seemed so often weakness
in men was tendency and idiosyncrasy rather than evil. And in the end he
thought better of himself as he came to think better of all others. For he
had thought less of all the world because he had thought so little of
himself. He had overestimated his own faults, had made them into crimes in
his own eyes, and, observing things in others of similar import, had
become almost a cynic in intellect, while in heart he had remained a boy.

In all that he had changed a great deal. His heart was still the heart of
a boy, but his intellect had sobered, softened, ripened--even in this
secluded and seemingly unimportant life; as Sally had said and hoped it
would. Sally's conviction had been right. But the triumph was not yet
achieved. She knew it. On occasion the tones of his voice told her, the
look that came into his eyes proclaimed it to her, his feverishness and
restlessness made it certain. How many a night had she thrown her arm over
his shoulder, and sought his hand and held it while in the dark silence,
wide-eyed, dry-lipped, and with a throat like fire he had held himself
back from falling. There was liquor in the house--the fight would not h