s mother. The Gustys may be
justly considered one of the best-furnished families in the county, and
the parlors were only less beautiful than the only daughter there
presiding. The collation served therein was of such a liberal nature
that every guest, we might venture to say, took dinner enough home for
supper. It has seldom been our fate to meet a gentleman of such
intelligent attainments as Mr. Hinton, and his entire future existence,
be it long or short, cannot fail of being thrice blessed by the
companionship of the one who has confided her trust to him,--her choice,
world-wide. Although a bachelor ourself, we know what happiness must be
theirs, and with all our heart we vouchsafe them a joyful voyage across
the uncertain billows of Time until their nuptial or matrimonial bark
shall have been safely moored in the haven of everlasting bliss, where
the storms of this life spread not their violence."

Some men spend their lives in the valley, and some are born and die on
the heights; but it was Mr. Opp's fate to climb from the valley to his
own little mountain-top of prosperity, only to have to climb down on the
other side. It was evidence of his genius that in time he persuaded
himself and his fellow-citizens that it was exactly what he wanted to
do.

"That there life of managing and promoting was all right in its way," he
said one day to a group of men at the post-office, "but a man owes
something to himself, don't he? Now that the town has got well started,
and Mr. Hinton is going to take main charge of the paper, I'll be freer
than I been for years to put some of my ideas into practice."

"We are counting on getting you back in the orchestra," said Mr. Gallop,
whose admiration for Mr. Opp retained its pristine bloom.

Mr. Opp shook his head regretfully. "No, I'm going to give all my
evenings over to study. This present enterprise I am engaged on
requires a lot of personal application. I sometimes think that I have in
the past scattered my forces too much, in a way."

So persistently did Mr. Opp refer to the mysterious work that was
engrossing him that he reduced Mr. Gallop's curiosity to the
saturation-point.

When he was no longer able to stand it, the telegraph operator
determined upon a tour of investigation. The projected presentation of a
new cornet by the Unique Orchestra to its erstwhile leader proved a
slender excuse for a call, and while he knew that, with the exception of
Willard Hinton, no visito