pitality."

Colonel Woodville pondered. His great white eyebrows were drawn together
and, for a moment or two, he gazed down the beak of his nose.

"I confess," he said, "that the appeal to hospitality moves me. I am
stirred somewhat, too, by pleasant recollections of the lad who looked
like you. But wait, my daughter is coming. We will confer with her.
Margaret is a most capable woman."

Dick heard a light step in the passage and he wheeled quickly. Miss
Woodville was before him, a plain, elderly figure in a plain black
dress, with a basket on her arm. The basket contained a fowl and some
eggs which she had just bought at a great price. When she saw Dick her
hand flew to her throat, but when the pulse ceased to beat so hard it
came away and she looked at him fixedly. Then a slow smile like the dawn
spread over the severe, worn face.

"Come in, Margaret, and put down your basket," said the colonel in a
genial tone. "Meanwhile bid welcome to our unexpected guest, a young man
of spirit and quality with whom I was holding converse before you came.
He does not wish to go out to-night, because there are many violent men
abroad, and he would avoid them."

Then he turned to Dick, and asked in a tone, sharp and commanding:

"I have your word, young sir, that your unexpected visit to our city was
not of a secret nature; that is, it was not of a lawless character?"

"An accident, sir, an accident pure and simple. I answer you on my
honor. I have seen nothing and I shall not seek to see anything which I
should not see."

"Margaret," continued the colonel, and now his tone became deferential
as behooved a gentleman speaking to a lady, "shall we ask him to share
our simple quarters to-night?"

The lad slowly turned his gaze to the face of the woman. He felt with
all the power of intuition that his fate rested on her decision. But she
was a woman. And she was, too, a true daughter of her father. A kindred
spark leaped up in her own soul, and she met Dick's gaze. She noted
his fearless poise, and she saw the gallant spirit in his eye. Then she
turned to her father.

"I think you wish him to stay, sir," she said, "and the wish seems right
to me. Our narrow quarters limit our hospitality in quality, but not
in intent. We can offer him nothing but the little alcove behind the
blanket."

She inclined her head toward the blanket, which Dick had not noticed
before. It hung near the bed and, wishing to cause this household littl