On the evening of the next day Jerome went to call on Lawyer Eliphalet Means.

Lawyer Means lived near the northern limit of the village, on the other side of the brook.
Jerome, going through the covered bridge which crossed the brook, paused and looked through a space between the side timbers.

This brook was a sturdy little torrent at all times; in spring it was a river.

Now, under the white concave of wintry moonlight, it broke over its stony bed with a fierce persistency of advance.

Jerome looked down at the rapid, shifting water-hillocks and listened to their lapsing murmur, incessantly overborne by the gathering rush of onset, then nodded his head conclusively, as if in response to some mental question, and moved on.
Lawyer Eliphalet Means lived in the old Means house.