Produced by Juliet Sutherland Charles Franksand the Online Distributed Proofreading TeamIllustration SHE FELT MY PRESENCE AND LOOKED UP QUICKLYThe Works of E P Roe_VOLUME FOURTEEN_A DAY OF FATE_ILLUSTRATED_1880PREFACESome shallow story of deep loveShakespeareCONTENTS_BOOK FIRST_CHAPTER IAIMLESS STEPSCHAPTER IIA JUNE DAY DREAMCHAPTER IIIA SHINING TIDECHAPTER IVREALITYCHAPTER VMUTUAL DISCOVERIESCHAPTER VIA QUAKER TEACHAPTER VIIA FRIENDCHAPTER VIIITHE MYSTERY OF MYSTERIESCHAPTER IXOLD PLODCHAPTER XA BIT OF EDENCHAPTER XIMOVEDCHAPTER XIIONE OF NATURES TRAGEDIESCHAPTER XIIITHE LIGHTNING AND A SUBTLER FLAMECHAPTER XIVKINDLING A SPARK OF LIFECHAPTER XVMY FATE_BOOK SECOND_CHAPTER ITHE DAY AFTERCHAPTER IIIT WAS INEVITABLECHAPTER IIIRETURNING CONSCIOUSNESSCHAPTER IVIN THE DARKCHAPTER VA FLASH OF MEMORYCHAPTER VIWEAKNESSCHAPTER VIIOLD PLOD IDEALIZEDCHAPTER VIIIAN IMPULSECHAPTER IXA WRETCHED FAILURECHAPTER XIN THE DEPTHSCHAPTER XIPOOR ACTINGCHAPTER XIITHE HOPE OP A HIDDEN TREASURECHAPTER XIIITHE OLD MEETINGHOUSE AGAINCHAPTER XIVLOVE TEACHING ETHICSCHAPTER XVDONT THINK OF MECHAPTER XVIRICHARDCHAPTER XVIIMY WORST BLUNDERCHAPTER XVIIIMRS YOCOMBS LETTERSCHAPTER XIXADAHCHAPTER XXTHANKSGIVING DAYCHAPTER XXIRIPPLES ON DEEP WATER_BOOK FIRST_CHAPTER IAIMLESS STEPSAnother months work will knock Morton into pi was a remark thatcaught my ear as I fumed from the composingroom back to my privateoffice I had just irately blamed a printer for a blunder of my ownand the words I overheard reminded me of the unpleasant truth that Ihad recently made a great many senseless blunders over which I chafedin merciless selfcondemnation For weeks and months my mind had beentense under the strain of increasing work and responsibility It wasmy nature to become absorbed in my tasks and as night editor of aprominent city journal I found a limitless field for labor It wastrue I could have jogged along under the heavy burden withcomparatively little wear and loss but impelled by both temperamentand ambition I was trying to maintain a racers speed From casualemployment as a reporter I had worked my way up to my presentposition and the tireless activity and alertness required to win andhold such a place was seemingly degenerating into a nervousrestlessness which permitted no repose of mind or rest of body Iworked when other men slept but instead of availing myself of theright to sleep when the world was awake I yielded to an increasingtendency to wakefulness and read that I might be informed on theendless variety of subjects occupying public attention The globe wasbecoming a vast huntingground around which my thoughts ranged almostunceasingly that I might capture something new striking or originalfor the benefit of our paper Each day the quest had grown more eagerand as the hour for going to press approached I would even becomefeverish in my intense desire to send the paper out with a breezynewsy aspect and would be elated if at the last moment material wasflashed in that would warrant startling headlines andcorrespondingly depressed if the weary old world had a few hours ofquiet and peace To make the paper go every faculty I possessed wasin the harnessThe aside I had just overheard suggested at least one very probableresult In printers jargon I would soon be in piThe remark combined with my stupid blunder for which I had blamed aninnocent man caused me to pull up and ask myself whither I washurrying so breathlessly Saying to my assistant that I did not wishto be disturbed for a half hour unless it was essential I went to mylittle inner room I wished to take a mental inventory of myself andsee how much was left Hitherto I had been on the keen runacondition not favorable to introspectionNeither my temperament nor the school in which I had been trainedinclined me to slow deliberate processes of reasoning I looked myown case over as I might that of some brothereditors whose journalswere draining them of life and whose obituaries I shall probablywrite if I survive them Reason and Conscience now that I gave them achance began to take me to task severelyYou are a blundering fool said Reason and the man in thecomposingroom is right You are chafing over petty blunders whileignoring the fact that your whole present life is a blunder and theadequate reason why your faculties are becoming untrustworthy Eachday you grow more nervously anxious to have everything correct givingyour mind to endless details and your powers are beginning to snaplike the overstrained strings of a violin At this rate you will soonspend yourself and all there is of youThen Conscience like an irate judge on the bench arraigned me Youare a heathen and your paper is your car of Juggernaut You areceasing to be a man and becoming merely an editorno not even aneditora newsmonger one of the worlds gossips You are an Athenianonly as you wish to hear and tell some new thing Long ears arebecoming the appropriate symbols of your being You are too hurriedtoo eager for temporary success too taken up with details to formcalm philosophical opinions of the great events of your time andthus be able to shape mens opinions You commenced as a reporter andare a reporter still You pride yourself that you are not narrowunconscious of the truth that you are spreading yourself thinly overthe mere surface of affairs You have little comprehension of thedeeper forces and motives of humanityIt is true that I might have pleaded in extenuation of these rathersevere judgments that I was somewhat alone in the world living inbachelor apartments without the redeeming influences of home andfamily life There were none whose love gave them the right or themotive to lay a restraining hand upon me and my associates in laborwere more inclined to applaud my zeal than to curb it Thus it hadbeen left to the casual remark of a nameless printer and an instanceof my own failing powers to break the spell that ambition and habitwere weavingBefore the half hour elapsed I felt weak and ill The moment I relaxedthe tension and willpower which I had maintained so long strongreaction set in Apparently I had about reached the limits ofendurance I felt as if I were growing old and feeble by minutes asone might by years Taking my hat and coat I passed out remarking tomy assistant that he must do the best he couldthat I was ill