The Pothunters

rvo sat and brooded on first causes. For nearly an hour and a half he had been engaged in an earnest attempt to trace

at he had done nothing during that week but enjoy each new aspect of his position as it was introduced to his notice. Yet here he was, sitting on a lonely rock, consumed with an unquenchable restlessness, a kind of trapped sensation. Exactly when and exactly how Fate, th

ng definite shape as the pink mists shredded away before the rays of the rising sun. As the ship rounded the point where the lighthouse still flashed a needless warning from its cluster of jagged rocks, he had had his first view of the town, nestling at the foot

on had begun, nor was it duri

ad not known, before he tried it, that it was possible to be a prince with so small an expenditure of mental energy. As Mr. Scobell had hinted, to all intents and purposes he was a mere ornament. His work began at eleven i

t-place at eleven minutes after two this afternoon; he has not been arrested, but is being watched," and genera

ment the thing stood revealed, beyond all question of doubt. What had unsettl

place interested him. As a rule, he merely strolled through the rooms, watching the play; but last night he had slip

he had begun, and t

ream, or returned to consciousness after being stunned. There was something in the sight of her, standing there so cool and neat

arvard that they had met. A college friend of hers had been the sister of a college friend of his. They had met several times, but he could not recollect hav

him to forget. But now, quite suddenly, he knew that he was homesick-and it astonished him, the readiness with which h

reeks and inlets, creeps on a sleeping man, until he wakes to find himself surrounded. B

recalled the scene now, that he had loved her before he had had time to frame his first remark. It amazed him t

remember me,"

le under his stare, but

with a smile. "I thought I knew your shoulders b

I

ere looking up disapprovingly. John realized that he was the only person in the room not silent. It was impossible

with a rattle. Th

ake this sea

opped to look on. My aunt is in one of the room

e yo

of the wizened man

ervo long?" he said

ning. It seems lovely. I

ginning to

helled nuts in his throat. "Er-may I-will you let me show you-" prolonged st

company on a girl who naturally did not want it, and who would now proceed to snub him as he deserved. He quailed. Though he had not had time to collect and exam

f mind coherent enough to allow him to observe, he might

e it very muc

large lump of some unidentified material, as if he were bucking center. They broke before him as, long ago, the Yale l

to the sea, you get a little bay full of red sandstone rocks-you can't miss it-and there's

no

meet there?" sh

mood to postp

ever you like

then. Good-ni

*

signs of Betty. His depression increased. He told himself that she had forgotten. Then, that she had remembered, but had changed

ted himself to a thorough examination, and the conclusion to which he came was that, as an aspirant to th

not administered it in the Casino simply in order that,

and the world grew black. It

ation, something that flooded life with a golden glow as if by the pressing of a button or the pulling of a switch, and automatically removed from it everything mean

ething of the possibilities of love. His tentative excursions into the unknown emotion, while at college, had n

t and soft music. It was raw and hard. It hurt. It was a

ime, and this time he sprang to his feet. Between the pines on