After an hour spent in unpacking I went out into the

grounds. I had thought it well to wire Pickering of

my arrival, and I set out for Annandale to send him a

telegram. My spirit lightened under the influences of

the crisp air and cheering sunshine. What had seemed

strange and shadowy at night was clear enough by

day.

I found the gate through which we had entered the

grounds the night before without difficulty. The stone

wall was assuredly no flimsy thing. It was built in a

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thoroughly workmanlike manner, and I mentally computed

its probable cost with amazement. There were,

I reflected, much more satisfactory ways of spending

money than in building walls around Indiana forests.

But the place was mine, or as good as mine, and there

was no manner of use in quarreling with the whims of

my dead grandfather. At the expiration of a year I

could tear down the wall if I pleased; and as to the incomplete

house, that I should sell or remodel to my

liking.

On the whole, I settled into an amiable state of mind;

my perplexity over the shot of the night before was passing

away under the benign influences of blue sky and

warm sunshine. A few farm-folk passed me in the

highway and gave me good morning in the fashion of

the country, inspecting my knickerbockers at the same

time with frank disapproval. I reached the lake and

gazed out upon its quiet waters with satisfaction. At

the foot of Annandale's main street was a dock where

several small steam-craft and a number of catboats were

being dismantled for the winter. As I passed, a man

approached the dock in a skiff, landed and tied his boat.

He started toward the village at a quick pace, but turned

and eyed me with rustic directness.

"Good morning!" I said. "Any ducks about?"

He paused, nodded and fell into step with me.

"No,-not enough to pay for the trouble."

"I'm sorry for that. I'd hoped to pick up a few."

"I guess you're a stranger in these parts," he remarked,

eying me again,-my knickerbockers no doubt

marking me as an alien.

"Quite so. My name is Glenarm, and I've just come."

"I thought you might be him. We've rather been expecting

you here in the village. I'm John Morgan, caretaker

of the resorters' houses up the lake."

"I suppose you all knew my grandfather hereabouts."

"Well, yes; you might say as we did, or you might

say as we didn't. He wasn't just the sort that you got

next to in a hurry. He kept pretty much to himself.

He built a wall there to keep us out, but he needn't have

troubled himself. We're not the kind around here to

meddle, and you may be sure the summer people never

bothered him."




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