about his Re-Creation.

And then, when that revelation of his crime toward Auntie Sue had
come, and the labor of months, with all that it implied of the enduring
salvation of himself and the happiness of Auntie Sue, hung wavering in
the balance, it was the "Circumstances" of Betty Jo's coming that had
set him in the right current of action again.

What waited for him around the next bend in the river, Brian
wondered,--calm and peaceful waters, with gently flowing currents, or
the wild tumult of dangerous rapids wherein he would be forced to fight
for his very existence? Would Betty Jo succeed as his agent to the
publishers? If she did succeed in finding a publisher to accept
his book, would the reading public receive his message? And if
that followed, what then? When Betty Jo's mission in the East was
accomplished, she was to return to Auntie Sue for the summer. Then--?

"Old Prince," of his own accord, was turning in at the gate, and Brian
awoke from his abstraction to see Auntie Sue and Judy waiting for him.

All during the evening meal and while he sat with Auntie Sue on the
porch overlooking the river, as their custom was, Brian was preoccupied
and silent; while his companion, with the wisdom of her seventy years,
did not force the conversation.

It was the time of the full moon, and when Auntie Sue at last bade him
good-night, Brian, saying that the evening was too lovely to waste in
sleep, remained on the porch. For an hour, perhaps, he sat there alone;
but his thoughts were not on the beauties of the scene that lay before
him in all its dreamy charm of shadowy hills and moonlit river. He had