FROM a brilliantly lighted and luxuriously furnished home in the fashionable Mt. Baker district of Seattle, the Queen City of the Northwest, the strains of a dreamy waltz floated out over Lake Washington, while in the living room of the home before a bank of choice cut roses and ferns, Robert and Ruth Rayon received their guests of the evening. It was Robert Rayon’s fiftieth birthday anniversary, and being known throughout the state as a successful and well to do business man, and a member of the city’s most exclusive clubs, his friends had gathered at his home this evening to wish him many happy returns of the day.

After several hours of joy and laughter, during which an elaborate dinner had been served in the large dining room, the guests had finally departed, and we now find Robert and Ruth Rayon seated before their fireplace discussing the evening’s entertainment, a contented and happy expression on their faces. The world had been good to them, and in the prime of life they find themselves well supplied with the comforts and luxuries made possible by plenty of money. His investments had all been made in the blue ribbon stocks of the country, which that day had been listed on the New York Stock Exchange at the highest figures in their history.

As the flames in the fireplace before them leaped merrily, the clock in the hall struck the hour of midnight, and with a cheerful goodnight to his wife, Robert Rayon retired and soon slept soundly, not knowing that with the rising of another sun a change destined to affect the remainder of his life was to take place.