ces, was holding high carnival with the
nerves of the onlookers. He was performing daring feats on the
trestle-work of the bridge. Suddenly, accidentally, or maybe
purposely, the expected catastrophe occurred, and he plunged head
foremost into the running water twenty feet below. A chorus of
feminine shrieks greeted the termination of his exploits, but his
grinning face as he reappeared, treading water and rubbing his eyes,
turned their consternation into laughter. Then, with a final howl of
boyish delight, he struck out for the nearest pier.

Cornelius McVeigh awoke from his reverie as the express began to move.
He swung aboard and proceeded to gather his baggage together. He had
scarcely finished when the train slowed up at the end of his journey.
He stepped out with a feeling of expectation. Home at last! The
thought was predominant, and he let it sway him with a selfish
disregard to other influences. Everything had changed during his
twenty years of absence; and the strangeness broke in upon him as if in
condemnation. Here again was the chattering, light-hearted throng, and
their presence only added additional pangs. Not a familiar face to
greet him. Even the fields and woodlands had a different aspect. All
the success of the past decade, which had given wealth and a recognized
place in the world of business, could not wipe out the impression of a
youth of dreamy idleness and simplicity. Where he had hunted rabbits
and slept under a tent of tattered carpet during the warm summer nights
stood a gaudily-painted hotel, flanked with wide verandahs and terraced
lawns. And all about were people, in hammocks, on chairs or rustic
seats, or wandering about enjoying the cool freshness of the lake
breezes. He hurried along the wide newly-cut road which led from the
station. At the high wire gate, erected so recently that the sods from
the post-holes were yet green, he stopped. The successive changes of
the place were so startling to him that he wished to contemplate them
more slowly. It was an ideal spot and filled the soul with pleasurable
anticipation. The children played on the grass, and the hotel
employees sang as they dawdled by in pursuit of their duties.
Everything bespoke luxury and ease. In the entrance doorway of the
hotel stood a stout man, probably the proprietor. He was looking from
under his hand in a speculative way at the stranger by his gate.
Cornelius saw these things mechanically. Then