Paul stood for a few minutes on the platform, unrecognized, unheeded, jostled by the throng.
"The prodigal son returns," he sighed, and slowly crossed the square....
Late in the afternoon a tired figure made its way along the river below the factory.

The banks were high, but where the stream turned, a small grass-covered cove had been hollowed out by the edge of the water.
"This is the best of all," thought Paul after he had climbed down the bank and, sinking upon the grass, he lay with his face to the sun, as he had so often lain when he was a boy, dreaming those golden dreams of youth which are the heritage of us all.
"I was a fool to come," he told himself.

"I'll get back to the ship tomorrow...." For where he had hoped to find pleasure, he had found little but bitterness.

The sight of the house on the hill, the factory in the hollow below the dam, even the faces which he had recognized had given him a feeling of sadness, of punishment--a feeling which only an outcast can know to the full--an outcast who returns to the scene of his home after many years, unrecognized, unwanted, afraid almost to speak for fear he will betray himself....
For a long time Paul lay there, sometimes staring up at the sky, sometimes half turning to look up the river where he could catch a glimpse of the factory grounds and, farther up, the high cascade of water falling over the dam--the bridge just above it....
Gradually a sense of rest, of relaxation took possession of him.

"This is the best of all," he sighed, "but I'll get back to the ship tomorrow...." The sun shone on his face....