would have
extended her hand, and the incident would have been closed. It was
Willits's stubbornness and bad breeding, then, that had caused the
catastrophe--not his own bullet.

Besides no real harm had been done--that is, nothing very serious.
Willits had gained strength rapidly--so much so that he had sat up the
third day. Moreover, he had the next morning been carried to one of the
downstairs bedrooms, where, he understood, Kate had sent her black mammy
for news of him, and where, later on, he had been visited by both Mrs.
Rutter and Kate--a most extraordinary condescension on the young girl's
part, and one for which Willits should be profoundly grateful all the
days of his life.

Nor had Willits's people made any complaint; nor, so far as he could
ascertain, had any one connected with either the town or county
government started an investigation. It was outside the precincts of
Kennedy Square, and, therefore, the town prosecuting attorney (who
had heard every detail at the Chesapeake from St. George) had not been
called upon to act, and it was well known that no minion of the law in
and about Moorlands would ever dare face the Lord of the Manor in any
official capacity.

Why, then, had he been so severely punished?

CHAPTER VIII

While all this talk filled the air it is worthy of comment that after
his denunciation of Pancoast's views at the club, St. George never
again discussed the duel and its outcome. His mind was filled with more
important things:--one in particular--a burning desire to bring the
lovers together, no matter at what cost nor how great the barriers. He
had not, despite his silence, altered a hair-line of the opinion he had
held on the night he ordered the gig, fastened Harry's heavy coat around
the young man's shoulders, and started back with him through the rain
to his house on Kennedy Square; nor did he intend to. This, summed up,
meant that the colonel was a tyrant, Willits a vulgarian, and Harry a
hot-headed young knight, who, having been forced into a position where
he could neither breathe nor move, had gallantly fought his way out.

The one problem that gave him serious trouble was the selection of the
precise moment when he should make a strategic move on Kate's heart;
lesser problems were his manner of approaching her and the excuses
he would offer for Harry's behavior. These not only kept him awake at
night, but pursued him like an avenging spirit when he sought the qu