He walked down to the post-office, and brought back a letter from the West.

It had such encouraging reports of his business that he was impatient to get back to it.

He wrote a reply early in the afternoon, and insisted on going to mail it himself.
"I'll never get my strength back," he protested, "unless I have more exercise." It was a cold, gray November day.

A few flakes of snow were falling when he started.
"I'll stop and rest at the Tylers'," he called back, "so don't be uneasy if I'm out some time." After he left the post-office the fresh air tempted him to go farther than he had intended.

At a long distance from his home his strength seemed suddenly to desert him.