he great chateau
on the mountain-side above.

"There's the house, Jim!" Nan cried, pointing to the heights on the
left.

Stuart could not suppress an exclamation of delight.

"Magnificent!" he said, with enthusiasm.

As the river made a graceful curve the great building swept into full
view--a stunning pile of marble three hundred feet long, its tower
piercing the turquoise sky in solemn grandeur. The stone parapet, on
which its front wall was built, rose in massive strength a hundred feet
from the ledge in the granite cliff before touching the first line of
the white stones of the house itself.

At the end a formal garden had been built on the foundations of masonry
which cost a hundred thousand dollars.

"What a background that row of live oaks make behind the garden!" he
exclaimed.

"Don't they?" she answered. "You would hardly believe it, but we
planted every one of those trees."

"Nonsense! They must be two feet in diameter."

"More; not one of them is less than three. We moved a hundred of them
from the woods, without breaking the dirt from their roots--built
special machinery to do it. I think Cal is prouder of those trees than
he is of the house."

For an hour the car swept like a spirit over the miles of smooth
macadam private roads Bivens had built. At each graceful turn his
wonder increased at the luxurious outlay of millions which the little
man had spent to gratify a whim.

From each hilltop, as the huge gleaming castle came into view from a
new angle, revealing its marvellous beauty, he thought with a touch of
pity of the shambling figure of the stricken man limping through its
halls helpless, lonely, miserable. What strange pranks Fate plays with
the mighty as well as the lowly! So frail was the broken body now he
did not dare risk a cold by taking a ride with his wife.

The machine turned suddenly up a hill and glided through two iron gates
opening on the lawn and the great white chateau loomed before them in a
flash of blinding beauty. Stuart caught his breath.

Turning to Nan he shook his head slowly:

"Don't you like it?" she laughed.

"I was just wondering."

"At what?"

"Whether this is the Republic for which our struggling fathers fought
and died? America you know, Nan, is the tall rude youth who saw a
vision, made his way into the wilderness, slept on the ground, fought
with hunger and wild beasts and grew strong by the labour of his right
arm. It would be a strange thing i