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HE Siren reached Newport in due time and the party scattered, Mrs. Morrill and Leona going to the Berkshires for a visit and Peter, intensely miserable, remaining for a while with Gordon. There was a good deal of gayety that summer and the two men took their parts, neither, however, having much heart for them. Gordon played polo twice, but being by no means in top form, gave it up, much to Mrs. Ames's relief. Since the reorganization of the Central and Western directorate the affairs of the road had been making steady demands on his time and he had plunged into them very gladly, gaining as time went by both executive ability and enthusiasm. There was much to learn and he was doing his best to learn it. The Central and Western was his business, his life's interest, he decided, and he meant to learn his business thoroughly. And he meant to run it honestly. Lovering still shook
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