to camp. Jim could hardly restrain himself
from going through in a single day, so anxious was he to get at his
traps and resume work upon the house. There was no fatigue too great for
him now. The whole world was bright and full of promise; and he could
not have been happier or more excited if he had been sure that at the
year's end a palace and a princess were to be the reward of his
enterprise.

CHAPTER XIII.

WHICH INTRODUCES SEVERAL RESIDENTS OF SEVENOAKS TO THE METROPOLIS AND A
NEW CHARACTER TO THE READER.

Harry Benedict was in the great city. When his story was known by Mrs.
Balfour--a quiet, motherly woman--and she was fully informed of her
husband's plans concerning him, she received him with a cordiality and
tenderness which won his heart and made him entirely at home. The
wonders of the shops, the wonders of the streets, the wonders of the
places of public amusement, the music of the churches, the inspiration
of the great tides of life that swept by him on every side, were in such
sharp contrast to the mean conditions to which he had been accustomed,
that he could hardly sleep. Indeed, the dreams of his unquiet slumbers
were formed of less attractive constituents than the visions of his
waking hours. He had entered a new world, which stimulated his
imagination, and furnished him with marvelous materials for growth. He
had been transformed by the clothing of the lad whose place he had taken
into a city boy, difficult to be recognized by those who had previously
known him. He hardly knew himself, and suspected his own consciousness
of cheating him.

For several days he had amused himself in his leisure hours by watching
a huge house opposite to that of the Balfours, into which was pouring a
stream of furniture. Huge vans were standing in front of it, or coming
and departing, from morning until night, Dressing-cases, book-cases,
chairs, mirrors, candelabra, beds, tables--everything necessary and
elegant in the furniture of a palace, were unloaded and carried in. All
day long, too, he could see through the large windows the active figure
and beautiful face of a woman who seemed to direct and control the
movements of all who were engaged in the work.

The Balfours had noticed the same thing; but, beyond wondering who was
rich or foolish enough to purchase and furnish Palgrave's Folly, they
had given the matter no attention. They were rich, of good family, of
recognized culture and social importance,