further ruin for the kingdom of oblivion which we thought that we had
found.

"There'll be _women_ next!" I said to him bitterly; though this was a
vague threat of a thing impossible.

His reply was a look more than half frightened.

"Don't!" he said.




CHAPTER V

EDEN AT HEART'S DESIRE

_This being the Story of a Paradise; also showing the Exceeding
Loneliness of Adam_

Two months had passed since the wedding of Curly and the Littlest Girl,
and nothing further had happened in the way of change. The man from
Philadelphia had not come, and, to the majority of the population of
Heart's Desire at least, the railroad to the camp remained a thing as
far distant as ever in the future. Life went on, spent in the open for
the most part, and in silent thoughtfulness by choice. Blackman, J.
P., now languished in desuetude among the fallen remnants of an
erstwhile promising structure of the law; and there being no further
occupation for the members of the bar, the latter customarily spent
much of the day sitting in the sun.