About five o'clock, Mr. Evans and Senator Downing were dining in a private room at a hotel. “So, the Governor won't run again,” said the Senator. “He so informed me yesterday. He may change his mind.” “You're not satisfied with things as they are,” remarked the Senator. “No,” replied the lieutenant-governor, “I'm disgusted with the Williams matter. When I'm governor, I'll request his resignation.” “And when you're governor, we'll put my bill through. Do you know the Governor's father is one of our heaviest stockholders? We'll have our way yet.” Within a week the legislature was prorogued. The House had a mock session, during which partisanship, and private victories and defeats were forgotten, for the time at least, and the fun was jolly and hearty. Ben Ropes, the funny man of the House, but a member of the minority, convulsed all by announcing his candidacy for the governorship, with the understanding that no money was to be spent, no speakers engaged, the question to be settled by joint debates between the opposing candidates. Every member of the House arose, and amid wild cheers, pledged him their support. The Hon. Nathaniel Adams Sawyer's estate at Redford comprised some eighty acres. Within five minutes' walk of the house was a sheet of water covering fully fifty acres known as Simmons' Pond. On the farther side of the pond were a few cottages and near them a tent indicating the presence of a camping party. “Next year,” said the Hon. Nathaniel to Quincy as they stood on the shore of the pond, “I am going to buy some twenty acres on the other side of the pond. Then I shall own all the land surrounding it, and my estate will be worthy of the name which I have given it--Wideview--for nobody's else property will obstruct my view in any direction. I shall name this,” and he pointed to the pond, “Florence Lake after my eldest daughter. What do you think of Captain Hornaby?” Quincy hesitated--“He's a typical Englishman--healthy, hearty, but with that English conceit that always grates on my nerves.” “Are we Americans free from it?” his father asked. “To my mind, conceit is often but the indication of self-conscious power. Its possessors never acknowledge defeat I have always had that feeling in my law practice.” Quincy changed the subject, “What have you in the boat house?” “Canoes--three canoes. I have ordered a large row-boat but it is not ready yet. When I own the 'lake' and the land beyond, my residence will stand in the centre of my estate. I shall retire from practice in a few years, and spend my last days here. We all have to go back to the soil and I am going to make my progress gradual.” “Won't you find it rather dull here after so long an active life in the city?” “Not dull, but quiet,” was the dignified response. “I shall pass my time surveying the beauties of Nature to which, to my discredit, I have been so long oblivious; then, I shall commune with the great minds in literature, and read the latest law reports.”