d as though he knew not
whither to turn. He looked at the onyx clock ticking on the
mantelpiece. He listened to the rumble of a carriage in the street. He
put out his hands, and going slowly into his sleeping-room, sank upon
his knees at the bedside.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE DOMAIN OF A GREAT MERCHANT.

To one who has gazed for many hours upon whirling scenes, and who at
his journey's end has gone to sleep in an unfamiliar place, the
question of self-identity presents itself at morning and of the dozing
faculties demands an answer. Henry lay in bed, catching at flitting
consciousness, but missing it. He tried to recall his own name, but
could not. One moment he felt that he was on board a ship, rising and
sinking with the mood of the sea; then he was on a railway train,
catching sight of a fence that streaked its way across a field. He saw
a boy struggling with a horse that was frightened at the train; he saw
a girl wave her beflowered hat--a rushing woods, a whirling open
space, a sleepy station. Once he fancied that he was a child lying in
bed, not at midnight, but at happy, bird-chattered morning, when the
sun was bright; but then he heard a roar and he saw a street stretch
out into a darkening distance, and he knew that he was in a great
city. Consciousness loitered within reach, and he seized it. He was
called to breakfast.

How bright the morning. Through the high and church-like windows
softened sunbeams fell upon the stairway. He heard Ellen singing in
the music-room; he met the rich fragrance of coffee. Mrs. Witherspoon,
with a smile of quiet happiness, stood at the foot of the stairs.
Ellen came out with a lithe skip and threw a kiss at him. Witherspoon
sat in the breakfast-room reading a morning newspaper.

"Well, my son, how do you find yourself this morning?" the merchant
asked, throwing aside the newspaper and stretching himself back in his
chair.

"First-rate; but I had quite a time placing myself before I was fully
awake."

"I guess that's true of nearly everybody who comes to Chicago. It
makes no difference how wide-awake a man thinks he is, he will find
when he comes to this city that he has been nodding."

Breakfast was announced. Ellen took Henry's hand and said: "Come, this
is your place here by me. Mother told me to sit near you; she wants me
to check any threatened outbreak of your foreign peculiarities."

"Ellen, what do you mean? I didn't say anything of the sort, Henry. It
could