amlin, retreated luxuriously under his blankets,
but presently another new sensation came over him--absolutely, hunger.
Perhaps it was the child's allusion to "beckus," but he found himself
wondering when it would be ready. This anxiety was soon relieved by the
appearance of his host himself bearing a tray, possibly in deference to
Miss Bird's sense of propriety. It appeared also that Dr. Duchesne had
previously given suitable directions for his diet, and Mr. Hamlin found
his repast simple but enjoyable. Always playfully or ironically polite
to strangers, he thanked his host and said he had slept splendidly.

"It's this yer 'ozone' in the air that Dr. Duchesne talks about," said
Seth complacently.

"I am inclined to think it is also those texts," said Mr. Hamlin
gravely, as he indicated them on the wall. "You see they reminded me of
church and my boyhood's slumbers there. I have never slept so peacefully
since." Seth's face brightened so interestedly at what he believed to
be a suggestion of his guest's conversion that Mr. Hamlin was fain to
change the subject. When his host had withdrawn he proceeded to dress
himself, but here became conscious of his weakness and was obliged
to sit down. In one of those enforced rests he chanced to be near the
window, and for the first time looked on the environs of his place
of exile. For a moment he was staggered. Everything seemed to pitch
downward from the rocky outcrop on which the rambling house and farm
sheds stood. Even the great pines around it swept downward like a green
wave, to rise again in enormous billows as far as the eye could reach.
He could count a dozen of their tumbled crests following each other on
their way to the distant plain. In some vague point of that shimmering
horizon of heat and dust was the spot he came from the preceding night.
Yet the recollection of it and his feverish past seemed to confuse him,
and he turned his eyes gladly away.

Pale, a little tremulous, but immaculate and jaunty in his white
flannels and straw hat, he at last made his way downstairs. To his
great relief he found the sitting room empty, as he would have willingly
deferred his formal acknowledgments to his hostess later. A single
glance at the interior determined him not to linger, and he slipped
quietly into the open air and sunshine. The day was warm and still, as
the wind only came up with the going down of the sun, and the atmosphere
was still redolent with the morning spicin