his formality, added: "Allow me to
introduce my sister, Miss Gurney, and her friend, Miss Sherwood."

"What! you are not sisters! I thought you were, though you don't look it,
sure enough," said Mrs. Morris.

"I hope it don't matter, Mrs. Morris," said Dexie, who actually thought the
woman might refuse to keep her. "We are very dear friends, Miss Gurney and
I, and will gladly occupy the one room while we are here."

"Very well. Step into the parlor. I will bring my sister to see you," and
she disappeared in a twinkling, but returned a few moments later in a
quiet, dignified manner with her sister, saying:

"These young people want to stay here a few days. Shall we keep them?"

"Why, to be sure, Matilda. Take off your hats, my dears; you look warm. So
you are only going to make a short visit, my sister tells me."

"Yes; we are going on to Charlottetown in a day or two," Dexie replied.

"Perhaps you would like to go to your room at once? Matilda, let them have
the pink room; it will be the most pleasant. I will try and entertain the
young man while they are gone," said Mrs. Gleason, whose manner was as
quiet and pleasant as her sister's was sharp and abrupt.

But Maxwell had decided to see to the young man himself--long enough, at
least, to find out something about his companion; so, as soon as Mrs.
Morris left the room, he turned to the good-natured sister, saying:

"Let me take him to my room for awhile, Mrs. Gleason; then you will not be
bothered with either of us," and, reading permission in her smiling face,
he led the way upstairs.

The room Maxwell occupied was really worth visiting, and it told at a
glance the character of the owner. Its walls were decorated with articles
that would not have been allowed inside the doors had Mrs. Morris beheld
them in time to utter a protest, for she was as timid about some things as
she was sharp in others. For instance, there was a fine breech-loading
rifle, dear to the heart of Maxwell, that hung on the wall above a brace of
handsome revolvers. These were the cause of constant terror and alarm to
Mrs. Morris, for she never entered the room without a look of fear in their
direction. She fully expected them to "blaze away at her," notwithstanding
the fact that Maxwell had repeatedly assured her that they were not loaded.

Then there were several stuffed animals that had been deprived of life by
these very weapons, and Maxwell had their forms preserved in as natural an
a