hey've already tried to prevent the delivery of Mr.
Rathbawne's mail, both at the mills and at his house. You know what
that means, don't you? One carrier interfered with in the performance of
his duty is sufficient excuse for mobilizing a brigade."

"But the Governor"--

Barclay came forward, laid his hand on Cavendish's shoulder, and looked
down at him, slowly nodding his head.

"The Governor of Alleghenia is a dyed-in-the-wool scoundrel, my good
sir," he said. "It is his manifest duty to enforce the law rigidly and
at once, and if the police of Kenton City cannot or will not assist him,
to summon the militia to his aid. In that way only can the honor of
Alleghenia be saved. And that is what Elijah Abbott will never do. There
is anarchy open and flagrant in the streets of Kenton City--there is
anarchy silent and sneering in the Governor's chair. God save the
state!"

XI

YOUNG NISBET FINDS HIS TONGUE

"I have promised to marry Colonel Broadcastle," announced Mrs. Wynyard
when the silence had lasted twenty minutes.

Dorothy flung round from the window against which she had been
mercilessly pressing her pretty nose.

"Why, Aunt Helen!" she exclaimed. "You really are the most startlingly
abrupt person I ever knew. Are you in earnest? What under the sun
possessed you to do that?"

"I think it must have been Colonel Broadcastle," answered Mrs. Wynyard,
with an air of reflection. "It was last night when he was showing us
over the armory, after the review. He not only asked me, but appeared to
have quite set his heart upon my giving him an affirmative answer. And
he had been so extremely civil, Dorothy, about our seats and all that,
that I thought it would seem rather ungracious to refuse the first favor
he had ever asked of me. So I said yes."

"Aunt Helen, Aunt Helen! One of these fine days you will be the death of
me. Did any one _ever_ hear of such a reason for accepting a man?"

"I couldn't think of a better one for refusing him," said Mrs. Wynyard
serenely. "So there you are!"

"Talk about logic!" said Dorothy. She came across the room, and seated
herself beside her aunt. "I never heard anything so exciting in my
life!" she added. "Do you really mean it? Are you really going to marry
him?"

"That is the arrangement, as I understand it," replied Mrs. Wynyard. "Of
course, I haven't his promise in writing, but I think I can trust him. I
once looked him up in your father's business guide, and he ha