appen to people
who afterwards go on living just the same, neither much better nor much
worse than they were in the beginning. The story is a slice, as it were,
cut from the most interesting part of a life, generally at the point
where that life most closely touches another, so that the future of the
two momentarily depends upon each separately, and upon both together.
The happiness or unhappiness of both, for a long time to come, is
founded upon the action of each just at those moments. And sometimes, as
in the tale here told, the least promising of all the persons concerned
is the one who helps matters out. The only logical thing about life is
the certainty that it must end. If there were any logic at all about
what goes between birth and death, men would have found it out long ago,
and we should all know how to live as soon as we leave school; whereas
we spend our lives under Fate's ruler, trying to understand, while she
raps us over the knuckles every other minute because we cannot learn
our lesson and sit up straight, and be good without being prigs, and do
right without sticking it through other people's peace of mind as one
sticks a pin through a butterfly.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADAM JOHNSTONE'S SON***

******* This file should be named 22455.txt or 22455.zip *******

This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/4/5/22455

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution