ertain it was that he was much more at his
ease in the parlor, and when he and Sophy were once more alone at their
meal, although he ate nothing, he had regained all his old naivete.
Presently he leaned forward and placed his hand fraternally on her arm.
Sophy looked up with an equally frank smile.

"You know I promised to let bygones be bygones, eh? Well, I intended it,
and more,--I intended to make 'em so. I told you I'd never speak to you
again of that man who tried to run you off, and I intended that no one
else should. Well, as he was the only one who could talk--that meant
him. But the cards are out of my hands; the game's been played without
me. For he's dead!"

The girl started. Mr. Hamlin's hand passed caressingly twice or thrice
along her sleeve with a peculiar gentleness that seemed to magnetize
her.

"Dead," he repeated slowly. "Shot in San Diego by another man, but not
by me. I had him tracked as far as that, and had my eyes on him, but it
wasn't my deal. But there," he added, giving her magnetized arm a gentle
and final tap as if to awaken it, "he's dead, and so is the whole story.
And now we'll drop it forever."

The girl's downcast eyes were fixed on the table. "But there's my
sister," she murmured.

"Did she know you went with him?" asked Jack.

"No; but she knows I ran away."

"Well, you ran away from home to study how to be an artist, don't
you see? Some day she'll find out you ARE ONE; that settles the whole
thing."

They were both quite cheerful again when Aunt Chloe returned to
clear the table, especially Jack, who was in the best spirits, with
preternaturally bright eyes and a somewhat rare color on his cheeks.
Aunt Chloe, who had noticed that his breathing was hurried at times,
watched him narrowly, and when later he slipped from the room, followed
him into the passage. He was leaning against the wall. In an instant the
negress was at his side.

"De Lawdy Gawd, Marse Jack, not AGIN?"

He took his handkerchief, slightly streaked with blood, from his lips
and said faintly, "Yes, it came on--on the boat; but I thought the
d----d thing was over. Get me out of this, quick, to some hotel, before
she knows it. You can tell her I was called away. Say that"--but his
breath failed him, and when Aunt Chloe caught him like a child in her
strong arms he could make no resistance.

In another hour he was unconscious, with two doctors at his bedside, in
the little room that had been occupied by So