of the prairies and
anticipation of his meeting with Zen that night. All his reflection had
failed to suggest the subject so interesting to her as to bring forth
her unconventional note, but it was enough for him that his presence was
desired. As to the future--he would deal with that when he came to it.
As evening approached the horses began their usual procedure of turning
their heads homeward at the end of each furrow. Beginning about five
o'clock, they had a habit of assuming that each furrow was obviously the
last one for the day, and when the firm hand on the lines brought them
sharply back to position they trudged on with an apologetic air which
seemed to say that of course they were quite willing to work another
hour or two but they supposed their master would want to be on his way
home. Today, however, he surprised them, and the first time they turned
their heads he unhitched, and, throwing himself lightly across Prince's
ample back, drove them to their stables.

Grant prepared his supper of bacon and eggs and fried potatoes, bread
and jam and black tea, and ate it from the kitchen table as was his
habit except on state occasions. Sometimes a touch of the absurdity of
his behavior would tickle his imagination--he, who might dine in the
midst of wealth and splendor, with soft lights beating down upon him,
soft music swelling through arching corridors, soft-handed waiters
moving about on deep, silent carpetings, perhaps round white shoulders
across the table and the faint smell of delicate perfumes--that he
should prefer to eat from the white oilcloth of his kitchen table was a
riddle far beyond any ordinary intellect. And yet he was happy in this
life; happy in his escape from the tragic routine of being decently
civilized; happier, he knew, than he ever could be among all the
artificial pleasures that wealth could buy him. Sometimes, as a
concession to this absurdity, he would set his table in the dining-room
with his best dishes, and eat his silent meal very grandly, until the
ridiculousness of it all would overcome him and he would jump up with a
boyish whoop and sweep everything into the kitchen.

But to-night he had no time for make-belief. Supper ended, he put
a basin of water on the stove and went out to give his horses their
evening attention, after which he had a wash and a careful shave and
dressed himself in a light grey suit appropriate to an autumn evening.
And then he noticed that he had just tim