He was quite alone, for his mother, after serving his supper, had hurried out to see a neighbour who had been long ill, and who depended upon Mrs. Bell for her daily cheer. Mr. Bell had driven out to Grandfather Bell’s farm. The little house seemed strangely silent, and the porch, in the early summer twilight, more companionable. A hammock swung behind the vines, and after a moment’s indecision, Peter stretched his long form in it, clasping his hands under his head. He was unusually weary, for the day had been very hot. He lay quietly listening to the distant ’plunkings’ of the banjo and to the faint sounds of talk and laughter which floated across the space to him. So, after a little, he fell asleep. He was awakened by the sound of voices on the step. The Bell porch, unlike that of the Townsends, possessed no electric lamps, and the nearest illumination to-night came from an arc-light on the corner. Peter, in his hammock, lay shrouded wholly in darkness. He could see a gleam of white between the vines which sheltered him, and the voices were those of his sister Nancy and Shirley Townsend. "It’s such a relief," Shirley was saying, "to get away from that banjo. I seem to have been listening all day to the sorts of music I like least. Rodman Fielding and his banjo are the last straw. Nan, what do you suppose is the matter with me that I don’t seem to care for the things most girls do--clothes and boys and--banjos. I detest banjos!" "What do you care for?" Nancy asked. "Tennis, anyhow. And you like Rufus and Ross and Peter, don’t you? As for banjos--I don ’t think anybody thinks they ’re very musical. They just like the funny songs that go with them." "Rufus is like a brother, and Ross like an uncle--a young one. As for Peter--I don’t seem to know Peter. He ’s changed. What ’s he been doing to make him look so old and sober? I almost thought I saw a gray hair--and he ’s no older than Murray." "Peter old and sober?"--Peter himself was growing fairly awake, although not fully enough roused to the situation to realise that he was playing eavesdropper.--"What an idea! He has n’t changed a particle. Gray hair! It could n’t be. Why, Peter ’s stronger than all the rest of us put together!" "He’s been taxing his strength, then. He looks as if he had been carrying loads of responsibility--solving problems--worrying over some he could n’t solve. He’s working too hard."