Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III RENSHAW HAS A PREMONITION HE was awakened by the sound of a gong, mellow but extremely penetrating, obviously a dinner or dressing gong designed to be heard throughout the big house. He sat up with a spectacular start, and glanced at the clock on the mantel above him. It was half-past seven. He had slept uninterruptedly for more than an hour, an experience still novel enough to be gratifying. He had only thirty minutes in which to unpack, bathe, and dress for dinner. At another time the reflection would have disturbed him, with its suggestion of needed haste. Now, after his hour of sleep, he acted briskly. As he cast a last glance in the mirror before he went down-stairs, he was mildly surprised by the agreeable normality of the being who looked back at him. The fellow seemed at least reconciled to life. Yes, this job might do what the second man in him had predicted. Another reflection followed the first, and was far less agreeable. He wondered if Campbell had told his granddaughter the peculiar relation in which he, Renshaw, had entered the family. That he should give this detail a thought was surprising. That he should have the moment’s concern that now followed it was nothing short of amazing. He was actually hoping that the girl did not know, that old Campbell had not told her! The reflection, though vivid in its little instant of life, perished almost as soon as it was born. What difference did it make what the girl or any one else knew or thought ? He turned off the lights, opened his door, and strode out into the hall. In the past few months he had realized that he must correct the slouching gait and dropped head he had permitted himself in the sanatorium. He must at least look and act as others did, however unwilling he was to take the trouble. …