tive town. And he was not much past middle life. What had befallen
him?

Well, there was nothing to be done. He read the letter over again. Then
he turned to some papers to compose his mind. There was a stir in the
next room, his sleeping-chamber. He always opened the windows and closed
the door between. After the dishes were washed and the dining-room and
hall brushed up, Elizabeth came upstairs and made the two beds. When he
had gone to Cambridge she opened the door between. So she did not
disturb him now, but crossed the hall and inspected the two
guest-chambers. She had swept them a week or so ago and had settled in
her mind that they would do until house-cleaning time. To be sure, if
she cleaned them now they would need it when the guests were gone. And
Chilian had a man's objection to house-cleaning. It was hardly time to
put away blankets. She wished she knew how many guests there would be.

The rooms were full of old Colonial furniture that had been in the
family for generations. Every spring Elizabeth polished the mahogany
until it shone. She dusted now, though there was hardly a speck visible.
The snow through the winter had laid it, and the spring rains had not
allowed it to rear its head.

Chilian put on his coat presently and sallied out for his morning
exercise. The family had been connected with shipbuilding to a certain
extent, and there was the old warehouse where vessels came in with their
precious cargoes from civilized and barbaric lands. For at the close of
the Revolutionary War the men of note, many of whom had not disdained
privateering, found themselves in possession of idle fleets, that with
their able seamen could outsail almost anything afloat. So they struck
out for new ventures in unknown seas and new channels of trade.
Calcutta, Bombay, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Batavia, and other ports came to
know the American flag and the busy enterprising traders.

But the old Salem that was once the capital of the state, the Salem of
John Endicott and Roger Williams, of stern Puritanism, of terrible
witchcraft horrors, and then of the sturdy and vigorous stand in her
differences with the mother country, her patriotism through the darkest
days, was fast fading away, just as this grand commercial epoch was
destined to merge into science and educational fame later on, and give
to the world some master spirits. But as he wended his way hither and
thither in a desultory fashion, one thought almost like spoke