Year: 1877

the personality which takes place As the
pressure of other minds is withdrawn.
To persons of Bob's sensitive mental
atmosphere that pressure is painful when
such minds are hostile, and often jrk-
some even when they are friendly. if
not in perfect accord. ~ that now il
was with positively voluptuous scnsa-
ton that his personality expanded till it
filled and felt the whole room.


The fire burned, and buy,ly flew the
shuttles of his fancy, Weaving once
again the often varied patterns of the
future. Those shuttles had little leisure
nowadays, for all the web must be un-
raveled and rewoven that through il all
might run the golden thread of Angles
love. How rarely did il light up the
fabric, before so dull and dark


The bronze metal-clock sounded with
silyery tinkle at thehour of two, butthc
sound fell apparently unheeded on the
ear OF the dreamer. Ii was a full minute
before the impression reached his mind.
There are times when the thoughts
throng so that each new sensation has
to take its place in the cue and wait its
turn to get attention. Then he stirred
and reused himself, emerging reluctantly
from the warm, voluptuous atmosphere
OF imagination, as one leaves an enervat-
ing bath. He had been lying thus a full
hour, and II was high time To return to
bed. He left the library and started
across the dining-room with hasty step.


Perhaps long gazing at the fire had
daZzled his eyes, or perhaps his haste,
together with an undue confidence i'm
his skill I'm navigation by dead reckon
ing, rendered him less careful than when
a hlh ii. III II


he, light stand which he had easily


Voided then, he now blundered fully
n pom.


Everybody knows that when one
stubs the toe in the dark, instead of de-
lVerlng the blow when the toe is moving
slowest, at the beginning, or at the end
OF the step, 1t always happens so that the
toe trlkes with the maximum momen-
tum. So it was this time. If Bob had
been kicking football he could not have
made nicer calculation of force, and
the shock sent the stand completely over.


1t would have made noise enough anv-
how, but it must happen that on this
stand the family silver was laid out for
breakfast, and the clangor was similar to
that of Apollo's silver bow, that time he
let fly ut the Grecian host before TCrov.


Bob stood paralyzed with horror. Evcn
the anguish of terribly stubbed toe
was forgotten in an overpoweriug sense
of the awful mess he had made. and the
unimaginable consequences that would
at once ensue. As the hidcous clangor
and clatter rang through the house shat
tering its sacred silence, he shrank to-
gether and made himself small as il he
could impart a sympathetic shrinkage to
the noise. The racket to his own ears
was splitting enough, but he felt, i'm adj
dition, as if he heard it with the ears of
all the family, and he wilted before the
conception of the feelings that were at
that moment starting up in their minds
toward the unknown cause of il.


His first rational idea was To bolt for
his room, and gain it before any was
fairly reused. But the shock had so
scattered his wits that he could not at
once recollect his bearings, and he real
lied, with indescribable sensations, that
he was lost. He consumed precious mo-
ments humping himself all around the
room before he found the right door.


AS he reached the foot of the staircase
voices were audible above, and lights
were cleaning down. His retreat
was cut off; he could not 90 back To his
room without being discovered. He
now distinguished the voice of Mrs. Lane
in an agitated tone entreating somebody
TO be careful and not get shot, the pruiT
voices of the brothers responding. and
then their steps rapidly descending the
stairs. Should he 90 UP and take the
risk of volley while announcing him
self? 1t would make q pretty tableau.
Presenting himself in such a guise and
Indnr anph ri 20, AL
reception could he expect from John.
who treated him with undisguised con-
tempt in the drawing-rOom, and whose
study il was to place him at disadvan-
tage? He might have hesitated longer.
but at this moment the voice of Angie.
crying down to her brothers to be care
full, decided him.


He could not face her under such ter
ribly false circumstances, and without
his wig.


All this took place far quicker than
could write IT. The glimmer of the de-
scending lamp already shone dimly in
the hall, and Bob frantically looked
about him for hiding place. But all
the furniture stood up too high from the
hoor, and the corners were distressingly
bare. He sprang into the dining-room.
bhh III biit ddIk ht tOulu nOI see how tho
land lay, and hurried on into the library.


The dying fire still shed dim light
around, and ne eagerly canvassed the
various possibilities of concealment
which the room offered Youthful ex
perience in the game of hide-and-seek
now stood him in good stead, and showed
him at a glance the inutiity as refugees
Of half dozen places that would have
deluded one less practiced by the spacious
but. too easily guessed shelter they af-
forded.


NaInly seeking n safe refuge. he ran
round the apartment like a rat i'm tran.
lie already heard the brothers i'm tho
dining-rOom picking up the silver and
wondering to find il all there. when.
obeying a sudden inspiration, he clam
bered upa lofty bookcase that ran across
one end Of the room, arching above the
dining-rOom door, and reaching within
few feet Of the ceiling. In cold blood
he never could have scaled it. Lying at
full length upon the top Of the bookcase
with his back TO the wall, the bulge Of
him was still visible from the further
part Of the room, in case il should occur
to his pursuers to look so high.


The latter now entered the library
and, peering over the edge Of the book
case, Bob recognized with singular SEN