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 the sound of the dog's barking came into the windows. It did not waken the sick boy. Noiselessly he hurried from the room into the kitchen and around the corner of the house, where Towzer appeared to be standing in some sudden fit of vigilance.

A man and a woman were coming up from the dock, where a large cat-boat was moored. They were looking toward the farm-house and at the smoke in the garden in evident perturbation. At the sight of his own figure hastening toward the gate to meet and admit them their haste and surprise doubled. On they came. They were loaded with a couple of large carpet-bags and innumerable bundles. They were middle-aged people. The man was low-statured, smooth-faced, and a little stout; the woman tall and angular. Their shrewd, puzzled faces were kindly, and the man waved an unknown reply to Philip's gesture of recognition. He could hear them exchanging ejaculations and queries.

"The Probascos, for certain—at last!" he exclaimed. Advancing toward the couple outside the gate, bareheaded, he bowed and repeated the name interrogatively, "Mr. and