Poppea of the Post-Office

WITH FRONTISPIECE BY THE KINNEYS
New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1909 All rights reserved
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO
Copyright, 1909, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published July, 1909. Reprinted July, 1909.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
To E. C. S. IN REMEMBRANCE
The six-thirty New York mail was late. So late that when the tall clock that faced the line of letter-boxes boomed eight, the usual hour for closing, Oliver Gilbert, the postmaster, ceased his halting tramp up and down the narrow length of the office, head and ears thrown forward in the attitude of a listening hunting-dog. Going to the door, he pulled it back with a nervous jerk and peered into the night.