," Eugene replied, "I have. My case is much too grave for that, I
think. I have traveled a great deal. But it doesn't seem to do me any
good. I want work at something manual, I fancy--something at which I
have to work. Exercise in a room would not help me. I think I need a
complete change of environment. I will be much obliged if you will place
me in some capacity."

"Well, this will very likely be it," suggested Mr. Haverford blandly.
"Working as a day-laborer will certainly not strike you as play. To tell
you the truth, I don't think you can stand it." He reached for a
glass-framed map showing the various divisions of the railroad
stretching from New England to Chicago and St. Louis, and observed
quietly. "I could send you to a great many places, Pennsylvania, New
York, Ohio, Michigan, Canada." His finger roved idly about. "I have
thirteen thousand men in my department and they are scattered far and
wide."

Eugene marveled. Such a position! Such authority! This pale, dark man
sitting as an engineer at a switch board directing so large a machine.

"You have a large force," he said simply. Mr. Haverford smiled wanly.

"I think, if you will take my advice, you will not go in a construction
corps right away. You can hardly do manual labor. There is a little
carpenter shop which we have at Speonk, not very far outside the city,
which I should think would answer your needs admirably. A little creek
joins the Hudson there and it's out on a point of land, the shop is.
It's summer now, and to put you in a broiling sun with a gang of
Italians would be a little rough. Take my advice and go here. It will be
hard enough. After you are broken in and you think you want a change I
can easily arrange it for you. The money may not make so much difference
to you but you may as well have it. It will be fifteen cents an hour. I
will give you a letter to Mr. Litlebrown, our division engineer, and he
will see that you are properly provided for."

Eugene bowed. Inwardly he smiled at the thought that the money would not
be acceptable to him. Anything would be acceptable. Perhaps this would
be best. It was near the city. The description of the little carpenter
shop out on the neck of land appealed to him. It was, as he found when
he looked at the map of the immediate division to which this belonged,
almost within the city limits. He could live in New York--the upper
portion of it anyhow.

Again there was a letter, this time to Mr. Henry