There he stood, indeed, the man of leisure, and to-day he wore his beaver hat.  No, he had not yet read the ‘Last of the Mohicans.’  There were things in it that Mr. Worthington would like to discuss with Miss Penniman.  Was it not a social library?  At this juncture there came a giggle from within that made him turn scarlet, and he scarcely heard Miss Lucretia offering to discuss the whole range of letters.  Enter Mr. Worthington, bows profoundly to Miss Lucretia’s guest, his beaver in his hand, and the discussion begins, Cynthia taking no part in it.  Strangely enough, Mr. Worthington’s remarks on American Indians are not only intelligent, but interesting.  The clock strikes four, Miss Lucretia starts up, suddenly remembering that she has promised to read to an invalid, and with many regrets from Mr. Worthington, she departs.  Then he sits down again, twirling his beaver, while Cynthia looks at him in quiet amusement.

“I shall walk to Coniston again, next week,” he announced.

“What an energetic man!” said Cynthia.

“I want to have my fortune told.”

“I hear that you walk a great deal,” she remarked, “up and down Coniston Water.  I shall begin to think you romantic, Mr. Worthington—­perhaps a poet.”

“I don’t walk up and down Coniston Water for that reason,” he answered earnestly.

“Might I be so bold as to ask the reason?” she ventured.

Great men have their weaknesses.  And many, close-mouthed with their own sex, will tell their cherished hopes to a woman, if their interests are engaged.  With a bas-relief of Isaac Worthington in the town library to-day (his own library), and a full-length portrait of him in the capitol of the state, who shall deny this title to greatness?

He leaned a little toward her, his face illumined by his subject, which was himself.

“I will confide in you,” he said, “that some day I shall build here in Brampton a woollen mill which will be the best of its kind.  If I gain money, it will not be to hoard it or to waste it.  I shall try to make the town better for it, and the state, and I shall try to elevate my neighbors.”

Cynthia could not deny that these were laudable ambitions.

“Something tells me,” he continued, “that I shall succeed.  And that is why I walk on Coniston Water—­to choose the best site for a dam.”

“I am honored by your secret, but I feel that the responsibility you repose in me is too great,” she said.

“I can think of none in whom I would rather confide,” said he.

“And am I the only one in all Brampton, Harwich, and Coniston who knows this?” she asked.

Mr. Worthington laughed.

“The only one of importance,” he answered.  “This week, when I went to Coniston, I had a strange experience.  I left the brook at a tannery, and a most singular fellow was in the shed shovelling bark.  I tried to get him to talk, and told him about some new tanning machinery I had seen.  Suddenly he turned on me and asked me if I was ‘callatin’ to set up a mill.’  He gave me a queer feeling.  Do you have many such odd characters in Coniston, Miss Cynthia?  You’re not going?”