me I
was on the right trail, but it has come to naught so far.
About a year ago I fell ill, and was a long time in a
hospital. When I was discharged I was a mere wreck.
Something was the matter with my heart, they said. I have
not been able to work long at a time since. Such work as I
get is given me out of compassion.

At thirty-five I have the face and gait of a feeble man of
sixty. When I catch a glimpse of my reflection, I am like a
stranger in my own eyes, yet feeble as is my body, the
_motive_ for which I live is strong within me.

By every glimpse into a warm, cosey fireside where the happy
husband and wife and children gather, I renew my vow to find
the man who wrecked my life, to meet him face to face, to
unmask his villainy, to let him see Barbara, his wife, turn
from him in horror and loathing, to have his craven life at
last! This desire, continually thwarted, never extinguished,
upholds me. It is meat, and drink, and clothing to my
famished, shivering body. I must be the chosen instrument of
God's vengeance, or I should have died of sheer despair
before now. Die? No, not yet. I must press on. Who knows but
I may be even now near the goal?

_March, 187-._

I am stranded here in a little western town where a false
trail has led me. I am growing weaker. A slow fever is
burning out my life. The last three months have been
terrible. I have had but little work, and I have
suffered--oh my God, how I have suffered--from cold and
hunger.

My appearance is such that I am taken for a tramp. I have
barely escaped arrest several times as a suspicious
character. It is hard for me to see little children run away
at my approach, and women turn pale and tremble as they open
the door to me. So far I have only asked for work, though I
have often slept supperless in sheds and barns. I have found
a little work at my old trade. When it is done I shall push
on. What with this fever in my blood, and the deadly longing
in my heart, I have no rest.

_December, 187-._

I have found a new trail--the clearest I have come across.
Chance threw into my hand a newspaper in which the name of
him I am seeking is mentioned, _honorably_ mentioned, in
connection with the politics of a ce