nsome fished around in the chest, and drew forth
pen and ink and paper. With some aid from his brother officers he
managed to compose the following:

"LITTLE MR. COMPTON. _Dear Sir_--The time has
arrived when every man should show his colors.
Those who are not for us are against us. Your best
friends, when asked where you stand, do not know
what to say. If you are for the North in this
struggle, your place is at the North. If you are
for the South, your place is with those who are
preparing to defend the rights and liberties of
the South. A word to the wise is sufficient. You
will hear from me again in due time.
NEMESIS."

This was duly sealed and dropped in the Hillsborough post-office, and
Little Compton received it the same afternoon. He smiled as he broke the
seal, but ceased to smile when he read the note. It happened to fit a
certain vague feeling of uneasiness that possessed him. He laid it down
on his desk, walked up and down behind his counter, and then returned
and read it again. The sprawling words seemed to possess a fascination
for him. He read them again and again, and turned them over and over in
his mind. It was characteristic of his simple nature that he never once
attributed the origin of the note to the humor of the young men with
whom he was so familiar. He regarded it seriously. Looking up from the
note, he could see in the corner of his store the brush and pot that had
been used as arguments on the Vermont abolitionist. He vividly recalled
the time when that unfortunate person was brought up before the
self-constituted tribunal that assembled in his store.

Little Compton thought he had gaged accurately the temper of the people
about him; and he had, but his modesty prevented him from accurately
gaging or even thinking about, the impression he had made on them. The
note troubled him a good deal more than he would at first confess to
himself. He seated himself on a low box behind his counter to think it
over, resting his face in his hands. A little boy who wanted to buy a
thrip's worth of candy went slowly out again after trying in vain to
attract the attention of the hitherto prompt and friendly storekeeper.
Tommy Tinktums, the cat, seeing that his master was sitting down, came
forward with the expectation of being told to perform his famous
"bouncing" tric