ending a hand over the
remnants of the suckling.

Here the dark-haired girl arose, the dinner being concluded. There was
none of his usual brusqueness of manner, as the manager, leaning back
in his chair and taking her hand, said:

"You are going to retire, my dear? That is right. We have had a hard
day's traveling."

She bent her head, and her lips pressed softly the old man's cheek,
after which she turned from the rest of the company with a grave bow.
But as she passed through the doorway her flowing gown caught upon a
nail in the wall. Pre-occupied though he seemed, her low exclamation
did not escape the ear of the stranger, and, quitting his place, he
knelt at her feet, and she, with half turned head and figure
gracefully poised, looked down upon him.

With awkward fingers, he released the dress, and she bowed her
acknowledgment, which he returned with formal deference. Then she
passed on and he raised his head, his glance following her through the
bleak-looking hall, up the broad, ill-lighted staircase, into the
mysterious shadows which prevailed above.

Shortly afterward the tired company dispersed, and the soldier also
sought his room. There he found the landlord's daughter before him
with the warming-pan. She had spread open the sheets of his bed and
was applying the old-fashioned contrivance for the prevention of
rheumatism, but it was evident her mind was not on this commendable
housewifely task, for she sighed softly and then observed:

"It must be lovely to be an actress!"

Dreamily she patted the pillows, until they were round and smooth, and
absently adjusted the bed, until there was not a wrinkle in the
snow-white counterpane, after which, like a good private in domestic
service, she shouldered the warming pan with its long handle, murmured
"good-night" and departed, not to dream of milking, churning or
cheese-making, but of a balcony and of taking poison in a tomb.

Absently the stranger gazed at the books on the table: "Nutting's
Grammar," "Adams' Arithmetic," "David's Tears" and the "New England
Primer and Catechism"--all useful books undoubtedly, but not
calculated long to engross the attention of the traveler. Turning from
these prosaic volumes, the occupant of the chamber drew aside the
curtain of the window and looked out.

Now the mists were swept away; the stars were shining and the gurgling
had grown fainter in the pipes that descended from the roof to the
ground. Not far was the dar