buildings, and the room is dim. A man's figure advances toward him.
Surely that step is familiar. Good heavens, what a shock comes upon him!

"Father!"

"John, my boy!"

He has believed this father to be at the other side of the world. He is
surprised at the warmth of the greeting he receives. Really, this is
quite unlike the proud man John has known all his life, a man who
seemed to ever surround himself with a wall of coldness.

A sudden shock runs through John's frame. It is as if he has been given
the negative and positive ends of a battery. He believes that his mother
is here, in this city. Can that have anything to do with his father's
coming?

A feeling of resentment springs up, then dies away as he gets a good
look at his parent's face.

"Father, what has happened? Have you failed; has any disaster come upon
us?"

"Why do you ask that, John?"

"Your face; it is changed so. I miss something I have been accustomed to
see there."

Duncan Craig smiles.