ng to a man of even more placid
temperament; and rebel as he might against the weakness, he lay awake
considerably longer than was his wont in the uncomfortable, canopied
bed, listening to the numberless infinitesimal sounds that break the
silence of a sleeping house--from the faint, occasional cracking of the
furniture to the scurrying of a mouse behind the plaster of the walls.
Then gradually, as his ears became accustomed to these minor noises,
another sound, unnoticed in the activity of the earlier hours, obtruded
itself softly but persistently upon his consciousness--the subdued and
regular breaking of the sea on the rocks below the house.

A slight sense of annoyance was his first feeling, for it was many
years since he had slept by the sea; then quietly, lingeringly,
soothingly the rhythmical persistence of the sound began to tell.
Imperceptibly the confusing ideas of the evening became pleasantly
indistinct--the numberless contradictory feelings blurred into one
delightful sensation of indifference and repose. With the salt, moist
air, borne to him through the open window, and the great untiring
lullaby of the ocean rising and falling upon his senses, like the
purring of a gigantic cat, he fell asleep.

His first sensation upon waking the next morning was one of
pleasure--the placid, unquestioning satisfaction that comes to the
untroubled mind with the advent of a fine day. To his simple taste, the
sights and sounds that met his waking consciousness were possessed of
an unaccustomed charm. With daylight, the room that last night had held
grim and even ghostly suggestions, took on a more human and more
friendly air. The ancient mahogany furniture seemed anxious to reflect
the morning sunshine; the massive posts of the bed with their drapery
of faded repp no longer glowered upon the intruder. Each object was
bathed in, and rejuvenated by, the golden warmth, the incomparable
mellow radiance of sea and sky that flowed in at the open window.

For a while he lay in contemplative enjoyment of this early, untainted
atmosphere, while the sounds of the awakening day gradually rose above
the soft beating of the outgoing tide--falling upon his ears in a
pleasant, primitive medley of clacking fowls, joyous, yelping dogs, and
stamping horses. For a space he lay still; then the inevitable wish to
take active part in this world created from the darkness and the
silence of the night aroused him; and, slipping out of bed, he dr