“Good evening,” he said, when the man was quite close to him.
“Good evening.” The stranger looked up suddenly, checking his song, and stared at Hoag steadily in apparent surprise. Then he stopped and lowered his bag to the ground. “I wonder,” he said, “if this is—can this possibly be Mr. Jim Hoag?”
“That's who it is,” was the calm reply; “but I don't know as I've ever laid eyes on you before.”
“Oh yes, you have.” The stranger laughed almost immoderately. “You look closely, Mr. Hoag, and you'll recognize a chap you haven't seen in many a long, long year.”
Hoag took the tall, well-built young man in from head to foot. He was well and stylishly dressed, wore a short, silky beard, and had brown eyes and brown hair. Hoag dubiously shook his head.
“You've got the best o' me,” he said, slowly. “I'm good at recollectin' faces, as a rule, too; but my sight ain't what it used to be, an' then bein' night-time—”
“It was after dark the last time you saw me, Mr. Hoag.” The stranger was extending his hand and smiling. “Surely you haven't forgotten Ralph Rundel's son Paul?”
“Paul Rundel—good Lord!” Hoag took the extended hand clumsily, his eyes dilating. “It can't be—why, why, I thought you was dead an' done for long ago. I've thought many a time that I'd try to locate you. You see, after advisin' you—after tellin' you, as I did that night, that I thought you ought to run away, why, I sort o' felt—”
Hoag seemed unable to voice his train of thought and slowed up to an awkward pause.
“Yes, I know—I understand,” Paul Rundel said, his face falling into seriousness, his voice full and earnest. “I know I'm late about it; but it is better to be late than never when you intend to do the right thing. I committed a crime, Mr. Hoag, and the kind of a crime that can't be brushed out of a man's conscience by any sort of process. I've fought the hardest battle that any man of my age ever waged. For years I tried to follow your advice, and live my life in my own way, but I failed utterly. I started out fair, but it finally got me down. I saw I had to do the right thing, and I am here for that purpose.”