rought back sufficient means to at once
build a respectable dwelling place, the upper half fitted for a domicile
and the lower for a store.

But all surmise came to naught, together with all the well-meant and
excellent domestic paths mapped out by the busybodies for Jess and the
widow to follow, for when the combination house was done and the store
stocked, Jess Hutton attended regularly to the latter and kept
bachelor's hall in the former; and though he was an occasional caller at
the cottage in Rock Lane and usually walked to church with the widow and
little Mona on Sundays, the store and its customers by day or night were
his chief care, and his solitary home merely a place to sleep in. And
yet not; for beyond that, during his many years of wandering on the
mainland, he had contracted the habit of amusing himself with the
violin when lonesome, and Jess, the eccentric old bachelor, as some
termed him, and his fiddle became a curiosity among the odd and yet
simple people of Rockhaven. Then, too, the little girl, Mona, his niece,
became, as she grew up, his protegee and care, and he her one
inseparable friend and adviser.

CHAPTER V

JESS HUTTON

Like one of the spruces that towered high above others on Rockhaven,
like one of the granite cliffs bidding defiance to storm and wave, so
did Jess Hutton tower above his fellow-men. Not from stature, though he
stood full six feet, or that he was impressive in other ways--far from
it. He was like a child among men in simplicity, in tenderness, in truth
and kindly nature--a man among children in strict adherence to his
conscience, to justice and right living. And all on Rockhaven knew it,
and all had the same unvarying confidence in his good sense and justice,
his truth and honor, conscience and kindness. What he predicted nearly
always came true; what he promised he always fulfilled, and no one ever
asked his aid in vain. Others quarrelled, made mistakes, repented of
errors, lost time in fruitless ventures; but Jess--never. He was like a
great ship moving majestically among boats, a lighthouse pointing to
safe harbor, a walking conscience like a compass, a giant among pigmies
in scope of mind, keenness of insight, and accurate reading of others'
moods and impulses.

And so he towered above all on Rockhaven.

Beyond that he was a philosopher who saw a silver lining behind all
clouds, laughed at all vanities, and made a jest of all follies. To him
men were grown-