evolving chair. It was as if the stern man of affairs took
control and demanded of the doubting creature opposite, common sense
and plain justice. "Hold your horses, Levi," he cautioned; "bide your
time. Don't get scared off. Do you remember that old mine that no one
else took stock in? It bought and feathered your first nest! Just you
hold to that and keep your mind easy until you get onto the job
yourself!"

CHAPTER XVI

Sandy came down from Boston that evening, tired-eyed and dusty. He
walked up from the station because he had taken an earlier train and he
wanted the walk through the quiet, sweet woods and fields before he met
the two friends from whom he always kept his worries and troubles. By
the time he entered the house on the hill he would be himself again!

And what had the seven years done for and with Sandy Morley? Outwardly
they had wrought wonders with him. He was over six feet tall, broad
and good to look upon. His clean-cut dark face was rather stern and
serious, but his eyes had caught and held the light and kindness the
world had shown him since he left Lost Mountain. When Sandy smiled you
forgot his sternness; he could look very joyous, but recent happenings
had set a seal upon his brighter side. Well dressed and well cared for
he strode ahead, taking a cut be knew well through the woods and
pastures leading up to the farmhouse, and for the first time in years
the homesickness for Lost Hollow surged over him. Always in his
deeper, more thoughtful moods the old home-place had a part. For years
he rarely ate a meal, when he was hungry, without a grip of memory
taking a flavour from the food. His hours of ease and pleasure were
haunted by grim recollections of toil and dreariness which he had once
endured, and which others, like him, were still undergoing. He never
forgot, never became callous; but as time went on and success became
more certain, he learned to estimate the value of utilizing his chances
and economizing his strength and powers. As in the old days of
preparation among the hills, he put in safe keeping his earnings, never
counting them; never trusting himself to the encouragement or
depression of their amount for good or ill--he awaited his hour and
call. And, too, as in the old days he mistrusted and feared Molly, so
now there were moments when he, superstitiously, expected some one or
some thing to defeat him in his aims and ideals. For never had his
vision fa