ng up from their chimneys;
further out the cultivated plain rose and fell, field beyond field,
wood beyond wood, merging at last in a belt of deep rich colour, and
beyond that, blue hills of hope and desire, and a pale gleam of sea
beyond all. The westering sun filled the air with a golden haze, and
enriched the land with soft rich shadows. There was life spread out
before him, just so and not otherwise, life organised and constructed
into toil and a certain order, out of what dim concourse and strife!
For whatever reason, it was there to be lived; one could not change the
conditions of it, the sun and the rain, the winter and the spring; but
behind all that definite set of forces, was there perhaps a stronger
and larger force still, a brimming tide of energy, that clasped life
close and loved it, and yet regarded something through it and beyond it
that was not yet? His heart seemed full of a great longing, not to
avoid life, but to return and live it in a larger way, at once more
engaged in it, and more detached from it, each quality ministering to
the other. It seemed to him that afternoon that there was something
awaiting him greater than anything which had yet befallen him--an open
door, through which he might pass to see strange things.

VI

THE HOME CIRCLE

He returned somewhat late, to find tea over and Mrs. Graves gone to her
room; but there was tea waiting for him in the library; he went there,
and for a while turned over his book, which seemed to him now to be
illumined with a new light. It was this that he had been looking for,
this gift of power; it was that which lay behind his speculations; he
had suspected it, inferred it, but not perceived it; he saw now whither
his thought had been conducting him, and why he had flagged in the
pursuit.

He went up to dress for dinner, and came down as soon as the bell rang.
He found that Jack's father and sister had arrived. He went into the
dimly lighted room. Mr. Sandys, a fine-looking robust man,
clean-shaven, curly-haired, carefully and clerically dressed, was
standing by Mrs. Graves; he came forward and shook hands. "I am
delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr. Kennedy," he said, "though
indeed I seem to know a great deal about you from Jack. You are quite a
hero of his, you know, and I want to thank you for all your kindness to
him. I am looking forward to having a good talk with you about his
future. By the way, here is my daughter, Maud, who is qui