The Project Gutenberg EBook of At the Crossroads, by Harriet T. Comstock

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Title: At the Crossroads

Author: Harriet T. Comstock

Illustrator: Walter De Maris

Release Date: September 26, 2009 [EBook #30095]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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AT THE CROSSROADS

BOOKS BY HARRIET T. COMSTOCK

A Little Dusky Hero
A Son of the Hills
At the Crossroads
Camp Brave Pine
Janet of the Dunes
Joyce of the North Woods
Mam'selle Jo
Princess Rags and Tatters
The Man Thou Gavest
The Place Beyond the Winds
The Shield of Silence
The Vindication
Unbroken Lines

[Illustration: "_It might have seemed an empty house but for the
appearance of care and a curl of smoke from the chimney._"]

AT THE CROSSROADS

BY

HARRIET T. COMSTOCK

FRONTISPIECE BY

WALTER DE MARIS

GARDEN CITY--NEW YORK

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

1922

COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION INTO
FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES AT THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS,
GARDEN CITY, N.Y.

AT THE CROSSROADS

AT THE CROSSROADS

The great turning points of life are often rounded unconsciously.
Invisible tides hurry us on and only when we are well past the curve
do we realize what has happened to us.

Brace Northrup, sitting in Doctor Manly's office, smoking and
ruminating, was not conscious of turning points or tides; he was
sluggish and depressed; wallowing in the after-effects of a serious
illness.

Manly, sitting across the hearth from his late patient--he had shoved
him out of that category--regarded him from the viewpoint of a
friend.

Manly was impressionistic in his methods of thought and expression.
Every stroke told.

The telephone had not rung for fifteen minutes but both men knew its
potentialities and wanted to make the most of the silence.

"Oh! I confess," Northrup admitted, "that my state of gloom is due
more to the fact t