at the
face under the hat brim. It was a mild, distinctly inoffensive face--an
intellectual face, although that is not the term Mr. Pulcifer would have
used in describing it. It was not the face of a peddler, the ordinary
kind of peddler, certainly--and the mild brown eyes, eyes a trifle
nearsighted, behind the round, gold-rimmed spectacles, were not those
of a sharp trader seeking a victim. Also Raish saw that he had made
a mistake in addressing this individual as "young feller." He was of
middle age, and the hair, worn a little longer than usual, above his
ears was sprinkled with gray.

"Mr. Hall, of--ah--of Wellmouth," repeated the stranger, seemingly
embarrassed by the Pulcifer stare. "I--I wish to find his house. Can you
tell me how to find it?"

Raish took the cigar, which even the bump against the lamp door had
failed to dislodge, from the corner of his mouth, snapped the ash from
its end, and then asked a question of his own.

"Hall?" he repeated. "Hall? Why, he don't live in Wellmouth. East
Wellmouth's where he lives."

"Dear me! Are you sure?"

"Sure? Course I'm sure. Know him well."

"Oh, dear me! Why, the man at the station told me--"

"What station? The Wellmouth depot, do you mean?"

"No, the--ah--the South Wellmouth station. You see, I got off the train
at South Wellmouth by mistake. It was the first Wellmouth called, you
know, and I--I suppose I caught the name and--ah--rushed out of the car.
I thought--it seemed to be a--a sort of lonely spot, you know--"

"Haw, haw! South Wellmouth depot? It's worse'n lonesome, it's
God-forsaken."

"Yes--yes, it looked so. I should scarcely conceive of the Almighty's
wishing to remain there long."

"Eh?"

"Oh, it's not material. Pardon me. I inquired of the young man in charge
of the--ah--station."

"Nelse Howard? Yes, sure."

"You know him, then?"

Mr. Pulcifer laughed. "Say," he observed, patronizingly, "there's mighty
few folks in this neighborhood I don't know. You bet that's right!"

"The young man--the station man--was very kind and obliging, very kind
indeed. He informed me that there was no direct conveyance from the
South Wellmouth station to Wellmouth--ah--Centre, but he prevailed upon
the driver of the station--ah--vehicle--"

"Eh? You mean Lem Lovett's express team?"

"I believe the driver's name was Lovett--yes. He prevailed upon him to
take me in his wagon as far as a crossroads where I was to be left.
From there I was to follow