y nodding toward the knife.

"You didn't ask me about him," said Hicks quickly.

"I do now," said the judge.

"He was here yesterday."

"Mr. Cavendish--" and again the judge glanced toward the knife.

"Wait!" cried Hicks. "You go to Colonel Fentress."

"Let him up, Mr. Cavendish; that's all we want to mow," said the judge.

CHAPTER XXIX. COLONEL FENTRESS

The judge had not forgotten his ghost, the ghost he had seen in Mr.
Saul's office that day he went to the court-house on business for
Charley Norton. Working or idling--principally the latter--drunk or
sober--principally the former--the ghost, otherwise Colonel Fentress,
had preserved a place in his thoughts, and now as he moved stolidly up
the drive toward Fentress' big white house on the hill with Mahaffy,
Cavendish, and Yancy trailing in his wake, memories of what had once
been living and vital crowded in upon him. Some sense of the wreck that
littered the long years, and the shame of the open shame that had swept
away pride and self-respect, came back to him out of the past.

He only paused when he stood on the portico before Fentress' open door.
He glanced about him at the wide fields, bounded by the distant timber
lands that hid gloomy bottoms, at the great log barns in the hollow to
his right; at the huddle of whitewashed cabins beyond; then with his
big fist he reached in and pounded on the door. The blows echoed loudly
through the silent house, and an instant later Fentress' tall, spare
figure was seen advancing from the far end of the hall.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"Judge Price--Colonel Fentress'' said the judge.

"Judge Price," uncertainly, and still advancing.

"I had flattered myself that you must have heard of me," said the judge.

"I think I have," said Fentress, pausing now.

"He thinks he has!" muttered the judge under his breath.

"Will you come in?" it was more a question than an invitation.

"If you are at liberty." The colonel bowed. "Allow me," the judge
continued. "Colonel Fentress--Mr. Mahaffy, Mr. Yancy and Mr. Cavendish."
Again the colonel bowed.

"Will you step into the library?"

"Very good," and the judge followed the colonel briskly down the hall.

When they entered the library Fentress turned and took stock of his
guests. Mahaffy he had seen before; Yancy and Cavendish were of course
strangers to him, but their appearance explained them; last of all his
glance shifted to the judge. He had heard something of