in his hand and turned in his chair.
"The light is detestable," he said. "Please throw on a piece of pine,
mother."

"You can't read by such a light," the woman replied. "Put your paper in
your pocket and read it to-morrow." Then she turned to me. "If you are
in the army," she said, "why do you wear such clothes? They are not
becoming at all." She had such a kindly smile and betrayed such a
friendly interest that it was not in human nature to suspect her--at
least, it was not in my nature to do so.

"Why, mainly for comfort," I answered; "and while I am wearing them I
am having my uniform, such as it is, furbished up and cleaned a bit. I
have a few days' leave, and I am taking advantage of it in this way."

"I wish my son here would take advantage of his short furlough to wear
the clothes he used to wear," she remarked, and her tone was so
significant that I could but regard her with a look of inquiry. I
suppose the puzzled expression of my face must have amused her, for she
laughed heartily, while the son, as if resenting his mother's words,
arose and swaggered to the other end of the room.

We had more conversation, and then I returned to the public room. Some
of the guests had retired, but their places had been taken by others,
and there was a goodly company gathered around the fire. I found the
big arm-chair unoccupied, and, seating myself on its comfortable
cushion, soon forgot the wonder I had felt that the woman in the next
room had known me for a soldier. I had accomplished one thing--the
identification of the prospective horse-thief--and I satisfied myself
with that. As for Leroy, I knew I should have to trust to some stroke
of good fortune.

The comfort of the rocker appealed to me, and, with my hands on its
arms, I leaned back and, in spite of the talking all around me, was
soon lost in reflection. Through long usage the upholstering on the
arms of the chair had become worn, and in places the tufts of moss or
horse-hair were showing. I fell to fingering these with the same
impulse of thoughtlessness that induces people to bite their
finger-nails. Suddenly I felt my finger in contact with a small roll of
paper that had been carefully pushed under the leather, and then I
remembered that the last occupant of the chair was the short-haired
man--the man who had the general appearance of a prize-fighter.

Now, it had occurred to me in a dim way that this man might be
identical with Leroy, and I suspected tha