I-I

The fiery disk of the sun was just lifting above
the shoulder of hills that held the city of
Stenton when the Greenstream stage rolled
briskly from its depot, a dingy frame tavern, and
commenced the long journey to its high destination.
The tavern was on the outskirts of town; beyond, a
broad, level plain reached to a shimmering blue silhouette
of mountains printed on a silvery sky; and
the stage immediately left the paved street for the
soft, dusty country road. Stenton was not yet astir;
except for an occasional maid sleepily removing the
milk from gleaming marble steps, or early workmen
with swollen, sullen countenances, the streets were
deserted. The dewy freshness of morning was already
lost in the rapidly mounting heat of the June
day. Above the blackened willows that half-hid
the waterworks an oily column of smoke wavered
upward in slow, thick coils, mingling with the acid
odor of ammonia from a neighboring ice manufacturing
plant; a locomotive whistled harsh and persistent;
the heat vibrated in visible fans above the
pavement.

[[9]]

p008 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p009w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p010

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