is the only newspaper worth the name here; but
even if the Tocsin had known of the trouble, it
wouldn't have been likely to mention it. That's
a thing I don't understand." He frowned and
rubbed the back of his head. "There's something
underneath it. For more than a year the Tocsin
hasn't spoken of Beaver Beach. I'd like to know
why."

"Joe," she said, slowly, "tell me something
truly. A man said to me yesterday that he found
life here insufferable. Do you find it so?"

"Why, no!" he answered, surprised.

"Do you hate Canaan?"

"Certainly not."

"You don't find it dull, provincial, unsympathetic?"

He laughed cheerily. "Well, there's this," he
explained: "I have an advantage over your friend.
I see a more interesting side of things probably.
The people I live among are pretty thorough
cosmopolites in a way, and the life I lead--"

"I think I begin to understand a little about the
life you lead," she interrupted. "Then you don't
complain of Canaan?"