ughts of his prospective advancement seemed to worry him. He grew
thin on it, and also took a severe cold while tramping back and forth
during bad weather. He would not take time to secure a doctor's
advice, nor would he listen to Nancy when she scolded him for his
neglect. The summer passed and the first brush of snow had come and
yet he would not give in. His chief sent a letter explaining that the
planned changes would go into effect the following spring. The news
only added a glitter to his eye and a stimulant to his anxiety to prove
his worth, but his cough still remained.

"The man'll break down and spoil everythin'," Nancy predicted to a
crowd of gossips in her bar. Her prophecy came true sooner than she
expected.

Moore received orders to throw the switch over to the sidetrack at the
Junction, so that a work train might leave a few cars of gravel for the
section-men to use the following morning. This train was due during
the half-hour which he took for his supper at the tavern. He shifted
the rails ready before leaving, intending to hasten back in plenty of
time to connect the main line over which the No. 4 passenger would pass
about nine o'clock. It was quite a usual occurrence in his routine of
work, so that the matter did not cost him a second thought.

Nancy noticed the tired look about his eyes as he sat at his meal, and
she determined to talk to him seriously about his health at the first
favorable opportunity. Out of doors the night was intensely black, and
a drizzling rain added to its inclemency.

"It's just sich a spell o' weather as'll make his cough very much worse
if he don't attend to himself," Nancy told Jennie, her adopted
daughter, as they saw Moore go to his room before setting out for the
Junction. The tavern settled down to its accustomed quietness, Nancy
and the girls knitting in the kitchen, Will Devitt leaning over the bar
and talking to a few who found it more comfortable there than in the
raw dampness without. Old Donald was in the stables finishing up, and
a chance wayfarer snored upon the sitting-room lounge. Katie Duncan
had occasion to go upstairs, and she came down with the startling news
that Mr. Moore had not left his room.

"He'll no git to be the station-master if he continues the likes,"
Nancy remarked, as she ascended to see what was the matter with him.
She found him lying on his bed apparently asleep, so she shook him, in
righteous indignation at his conduc