endure the sight of his haggard face and
piteous eyes.

When the boat arrived, Simeon met it with his own yacht, and, with a
return of his iron resolution, stood by to protect the graves of his
hopes as they slid across the rail. Then, ordering every soul from the
cabin, he sat down beside the caskets. He _knew_ that his loved ones
were there, and yet he could not realize it. He was filled with a
desire to prove it all a mistake, but the fear--the certainty of the
disfigured faces--deterred him.

He took them home. Nothing could have been more piercingly pathetic
than that flabby, gray old man, sitting alone amid the tawdry splendor
of his drawing-room with the remains of all he loved in this world
shut away from him by rosewood and silver. When the last pale and
shaking servant had left the room, the father gave one long, hoarse,
choking wail, and fell upon his face on the floor, crushed and utterly
despairing.

When he rose he was calmer. He began to give orders for a sumptuous
funeral, taking charge of every detail in his familiar way. The
ceremony was magnificent and profoundly affecting. Every one present
in the great church shed tears of heartfelt sorrow, pitying the great
banker, quite humanly; but he himself did not weep, he sat limply with
eyes on the floor, in a daze of internal emotion; but when the door of
the vault closed on his dead a final terrible cry burst from him, the
cry of one who realizes to the last and to the full the emptiness, the
futility of a life without love, an old age without hope.

His interest in the material world, in the war of trade, was gone. His
vast wealth would still bring him dividends, and his clerks and
partners would still consult him, still demand his signatures, but the
ones who made all these matters worth doing had vanished.

Life seemed utterly useless, a vain effort, but while yet he struggled
with the fear of death and a hate of the day, a delegation of those
who claim to hold communion with the dead came to him with a greeting
from his wife. This message contained words which startled him. He was
persuaded to seek confirmation. He was convinced and became the most
fervent of spiritualists. His form lifted, his eyes brightened. A new
world opened for him. He announced his intention to use his vast
wealth for the faith which had comforted him. He built a magnificent
temple to the unseen. He hired speakers and musicians to entertain and
instruct those who came to