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from his first step toward the train in the railroad camp he had meant to marry Nessie. Every movement of his mind or body had been directed to that end. Now Nessie was gone and their marriage impossible.

He stood watching the tail lights of the express diminish, draw close together. At last they coalesced into one faint light, and presently this vanished in the night.

When the noise of the train fell to silence, Abner still stood in the poor street, feeling numb and stricken. There was nothing at all to do. He might as well stand there in the street as to do any other useless thing.

Up on the main street of the village he could hear someone starting a car. The self-starter purred at the cold engine. At last the unwilling motor began a rush of coughing and was presently throttled down to a slower tempo. Came the rasp of a clutch let in by some unskilful hand. Then the car also murmured away into the night. This sound increased Abner's impression of loss and desolation.