3 p.m.
` BREVOORT HOUSE , NEW YORK , Oct. 6th , 18 -- . ' _ To Mr. Frank Tracy , Tracy Park , Shannondale _ . ` I arrived in the Scotia this morning , and shall take the train for Shannondale at 3 p.m. Send someone to the station to meet us . ` ARTHUR TRACEY . ' This was the telegram which the clerk in the Shannonville office wrote out one October morning , and despatched to the Hon. Frank Tracy , of Tracy Park , in the quiet town of Shannondale , where our story opens . Mr. Frank Tracy , who , since his election to the State Legislature for two successive terms , had done nothing except to attend political meetings and make speeches on all public occasions , had an office in town , where he usually spent his mornings , smoking , reading the papers and talking to Mr. Colvin , his business agent and lawyer , for , though born in one of the humblest of New England houses , where the slanting roof almost touched the ground in the rear , and he could scarcely stand upright in the chamber where he slept , Mr. Frank Tracy was a great man now , and as he dashed along the turnpike behind his blooded bays , with his driver beside him , people looked admiringly after him , and pointed him out to strangers as the Hon. Mr. Tracy , of Tracy Park , one of the finest places in the county .