at had been his mother's, and in it the frail
figure of little Miss Kippy. Her hair lay loose upon the pillow, and on
her sleeping face, appealing in its helplessness, was a smile of perfect
peace. The new doll lay on the table beside the candle, but clasped
tightly in her arms was the coat of many checks.

For a moment Mr. Opp stood watching her, then he drew his shirt-sleeve
quickly across his eyes. As he turned to descend, his new shoes creaked
painfully and, after he had carefully removed them, he tiptoed down,
passed through the sitting-room and out upon the porch, where he sank
down on the step and dropped his head on his arms.

The night was very still, save for the croaking of a bullfrog, and the
incessant scraping of a cedar-tree against the corner of the roof. From
across the river, faint sparks of light shone out from cabin windows,
and, below, a moving light now and then told of a passing scow. Once a
steamboat slipped weirdly out of the darkness, sparkling with lights,
and sending up faint sounds of music; but before the waves from the
wheel had ceased to splash on the bank below, she was swallowed up in
the darkness, leaving lonesomeness again.

Mr. Opp sat staring out into the night, outwardly calm, but inwardly
engaged in a mortal duel. The aggressive Mr. Opp of the gorgeous raiment
and the seal ring, the important man of business, the ambitious
financier, was in deadly combat with the insignificant Mr. Opp, he of
the shirt-sleeves and the wilted pompadour, the delicate, sensitive,
futile Mr. Opp who was incapable of everything but the laying down of
his life for the sake of another.

A dull line of light hovered on the horizon, and gradually the woods on
the opposite shore took shape, then the big river itself, gray and
shimmering, with streaks on the water where a snag broke the swift
current.

"Mr. D.," he heard Aunt Tish calling up the back stairs, "you better git
out of baid; hit's sun-up."

He rose stiffly and started back to the kitchen. As he passed through
the front room, his eyes fell upon his new suit-case full of the
treasured drummers' samples. Stooping down, he traced the large black
letters with his finger and sighed deeply.

Then he got up resolutely and marched to the kitchen door.

"Aunt Tish," he said with authority, "you needn't mind about hurrying
breakfast. I find there's very important business will keep me here in
the Cove for the present."

V

There were two