other things
to think of.

At the foot of the hill, just below the slope of the Square, was the
terminus of the electric tram-line from the city. In summer it was a
pretty spot, well shaded by ornamental trees, with a small Gothic church
and its parsonage in the center of a trimly kept lawn. It was prettier
still as Thor Masterman approached it, at the close of a winter's day,
with the great soft flakes, heaping their beauty on roof and shrub and
roadway, the whole lit up with plenty of cheerful electricity, and no
eye to behold it but his own.

Because of this purity and solitude a black spot was the more
conspicuous; and because it was a moving black spot it caught the
onlooker's glance at once. It was a moving black spot, though it
remained in one place--on the cement seat that circled a
copper-beech-tree for the convenience of villagers waiting for the cars.
It was extraordinary that any one should choose this uninviting,
snow-covered resting-place, unless he couldn't do otherwise.

The doctor in Thor was instantly alert, but before advancing many paces
he had made his guess. Patients were beginning to take his time,
rendering his afternoons less free; and so what might have been expected
had happened. Mr. Willoughby had managed to come homeward by the
electric car, but was unable to go any farther.

Nevertheless, Thor was startled as he crossed the roadway to hear a
great choking sob. The big creature was huddled somehow on the seat, but
with face and arms turned to the trunk of the tree, against whose cold
bark he wept. He wept shamelessly aloud, with broken exclamations of
which "O my God! O my God!" was all that Thor could hear distinctly.

"It's delirium this time, for sure," he said to himself, as he laid his
hand on the great snow-heaped shoulder.

He changed his mind on that score as soon as Mr. Willoughby was able to
speak coherently. "I'm heart-broken, Thor. Haven't touched a thing
to-day--scarcely. But I'm all in."

More sobs followed. It was with difficulty that Thor could get the
lumbering body on its feet. "You mustn't stay here, Mr. Willoughby.
You'll catch cold. Come along home with me."

"I do' wan' to go home, Thor. Got no home now. Ruined--tha's what I am.
Ruined. Your father's kicked me out. All my money gone. No' a cent left
in the world."

Thor dragged him onward. "But you must come home just the same, Mr.
Willoughby. You can't stay out here. The next car will be along in a
minute,