Myrtle Forge and the Penny dwelling; there certain of whatever supper he
would elect. But, he decided, he preferred something now, less formal.
There were visitors at Myrtle Forge, Abner Forsythe, who owned the other
half of Shadrach, his son David, newly back from England and the study
of metallurgy, and a Mr. Winscombe, come out to the Provinces in
connection with the Maryland boundary dispute, accompanied by his wife.
All this Howat Penny regarded with profound distaste; necessary social
and conversational forms repelled him. And it annoyed his father when he
sat, apparently morose, against the wall, or retired solitary to his
room.

He would get supper here; they would be glad to have him at the house of
Peter Heydrick, the manager of the Furnace. Half turning, he could see
the dwelling at his back--a small, grey stone rectangle with a narrow
portico on its solid face and a pale glimmer of candles in the lower
windows. The ground immediately about it was cleared of brush and little
trees, affording Peter Heydrick a necessary, unobstructed view of the
Furnace stack while sitting in his house or when aroused at night. The
dwelling was inviting, at once slipping into the dusk and emerging by
reason of the warm glow within. Mrs. Heydrick, too, was an excellent
cook; there would be plenty of venison, roast partridge, okra soup.
Afterwards, under a late moon, he could go back to Myrtle Forge; or he
might stay at the Heydricks all night, and to-morrow kill such a buck as
he had lost.

The twilight darkened beneath the trees, the surrounding hills lost
their forms, in the east the distance merged into the oncoming night,
but the west was still translucent, green. There was a faint movement
in the leaves by the roadside, and a grey fox crossed, flattened on the
ground, and disappeared. Howat Penny could see the liquid gleam of its