Then at length he arose and retraced his slow steps back to town.

Darkness overtook him on the bridge that spanned Middleville River.

He leaned over the railing and peered down into the shadows.

A soft murmur of rushing water came up.

How like strange distant voices calling him to go back or go on, or warning him, or giving mystic portent of something that would happen to him there! A cold chill crept over him and he seemed enveloped in a sombre menace of the future.