ft it up in the woods!"

Five minutes later, just as the bell was tapping for the boat to start,
a flying figure appeared on the wharf. He was hatless and breathless,
his coat was ripped from collar to hem, and a large band-box flapped
madly against his legs as he ran. He came down the home-stretch at a
record-breaking pace, stepped on board as the gang-plank was lifted,
deposited his band-box on the deck, then with a running jump cleared the
rapidly widening space between the boat and the shore, and dropped upon
the wharf.

He continued waving his handkerchief even after the boat had rounded
the curve, then, having edited a paper, promoted a large enterprise,
effected a proposal, and performed two remarkable athletic stunts all in
the course of a day, Mr. Opp turned his footsteps toward home.

IX

The next day dawned wet and chilly. A fine mist hung in the trees, and
the leaves and grasses sagged under their burden of moisture. All the
crimson and gold had changed to brown and gray, and the birds and
crickets had evidently packed away their chirps and retired for the
season.

By the light of a flickering candle, Mr. D. Webster Opp partook of a
frugal breakfast. The luxurious habits of the Moore household had made
breakfast a movable feast depending upon the time of Aunt Tish's
arrival, and in establishing the new regime Mr. Opp had found it
necessary to prepare his own breakfast in order to make sure of getting
to the office before noon.

As he sipped his warmed-over coffee, with his elbows on the red
table-cloth, and his heels hooked on the rung of the chair, he recited
to himself in an undertone from a very large and imposing book which was
propped in front of him, the leaves held back on one side by a
candlestick and on the other by a salt-cellar. It was a book which Mr.
Opp was buying on subscription, and it was called "An Encyclopedia of
Wonder, Beauty, and Wisdom." It contained pellets of information on all
subjects, and Mr. Opp made it a practice to take several before
breakfast, and to repeat the dose at each meal as circumstances
permitted. "An editor," he told Nick, "has got to keep himself
instructed on all subjects. He has got to read wide and continuous."

As a rule he followed no special line in his pursuit of knowledge, but
with true catholicity of taste, took the items as they came, turning
from a strenuous round with "Abbeys and Abbots," to enter with fervor
into the wilds of "Abyssini