at raising a few pigeons for market, he
found no less zest in calculating in squabs than formerly when he had
calculated in millions. Achievement was no less achievement, while the
process of it seemed more rational and received the sanction of his
reason.

The domestic cat that had gone wild and that preyed on his pigeons, he
found, by the comparative standard, to be of no less paramount menace
than a Charles Klinkner in the field of finance, trying to raid him for
several millions. The hawks and weasels and 'coons were so many
Dowsetts, Lettons, and Guggenhammers that struck at him secretly. The
sea of wild vegetation that tossed its surf against the boundaries of
all his clearings and that sometimes crept in and flooded in a single
week was no mean enemy to contend with and subdue. His fat-soiled
vegetable-garden in the nook of hills that failed of its best was a
problem of engrossing importance, and when he had solved it by putting
in drain-tile, the joy of the achievement was ever with him. He never
worked in it and found the soil unpacked and tractable without
experiencing the thrill of accomplishment.

There was the matter of the plumbing. He was enabled to purchase the
materials through a lucky sale of a number of his hair bridles. The
work he did himself, though more than once he was forced to call in
Dede to hold tight with a pipe-wrench. And in the end, when the
bath-tub and the stationary tubs were installed and in working order,
he could scarcely tear himself away from the contemplation of what his
hands had wrought. The first evening, missing him, Dede sought and
found him, lamp in hand, staring with silent glee at the tubs. He
rubbed his hand over their smooth wooden lips and laughed aloud, and
was as shamefaced as any boy when she caught him thus secretly exulting
in his own prowess.

It was this adventure in wood-working and plumbing that brought about
the building of the little workshop, where he slowly gathered a
collection of loved tools. And he, who in the old days, out of his
millions, could purchase immediately whatever he might desire, learned
the new joy of the possession that follows upon rigid economy and
desire long delayed. He waited three months before daring the
extravagance of a Yankee screw-driver, and his glee in the marvelous
little mechanism was so keen that Dede conceived forthright a great
idea. For six months she saved her egg-money, which was hers by right
of all