h its ghostly slabs and shafts. There was the old
house which had haunted his dreariest dreams, and there--yes, there was
the cottage which had been the shrine of his sole joy in life. Drawn
close together in perspective and full of meaning they stood--his House
of Despair, and his Cottage of Delight. From both he tore his clinging
gaze. Beyond his mother's cabin lay an undulating meadow and another log
cabin. Along a narrow path walked a woman holding the hands of two
children. Across the furrows of a corn-field to meet the three trudged a
man without a coat, an ax on his shoulder. They met. The man took the
younger child up in his arms, and the three others walked onward through
the yellow veil of light.

The observer groaned, filled, and sobbed. Through a mist of
unrestrainable tears he watched fixedly till the group had vanished in
the cabin. Then he started toward the town.

CHAPTER XIV

A few days later Joel Eperson stopped his wagon, which was loaded with
wood to be taken to town, at Mrs. Trott's cabin. He left his horse
unhitched and stood before the door. Mrs. Trott, who was within, heard
him and came out smiling.

"The children told me," Eperson began, "that you wanted to see me."

"Yes, Joel," she answered, taking one of the chairs in front of the
cabin and indicating the other with a wave of her hand. "We've got to
have a talk, and what do you think? It is business this time."

"Business?" he echoed, puzzled by her mood and mien.

"Yes, and I am going to say in advance, Joel, that you have got to lay
aside some of your old-fashioned notions for once in your life and be
sensible. Joel, John is going back to New York very soon, and he is not
coming here anymore."

"You say--you say--?" Eperson's moist lips hung loosely from his
yellowing teeth, and he broke off, only to begin again. "But why do you
tell _me_ of it, Mrs. Trott?"

"_Mrs. Trott!_" the woman cried. "Why do you call me that for the first
time? Hasn't it been 'Grandmother Trott' all these years? Listen, Joel.
You are too touchy for your own good. I am telling you about John
because you ought to know it. You may be silly enough to think that he
wants to come between you and Tilly, but he doesn't, and she wouldn't
encourage it, even if he did. So that is the end of that. The next
thing is my own business with you. Joel, John is better off than we had
any idea of, and what do you think he has done? He has turned over to me
in my name