A CHILI) OF NATURE 
impression was so persistent and 
definite that the solitary student 
sought out those who knew the 
earlier occupants of the house, 
and he was not slow to discover 
that among them all his concern 
was with the silent man who, with- 
in a brief half year, had sat before 
the same hearth and looked out 
of the same windows to the hills 
sweeping in a vast circle to the 
north and east. Not much was 
told him, but that little was enough ; 
for the few and hard facts were 
significant, and there was more in 
the silence of those who were ques- 
tioned than in the reports they 
gave. And Ralph's imagination 
was quickened as he recalled the 
[112] 
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