nsal.

Ensal knew Earl so well that he could have told him the character of his
(Earl's) thoughts.

On the following evening as Ensal and Earl sat in the parlor of the
Crawford's chatting, Tiara parted the curtains shutting off an adjoining
room, and stepped in. Her hair was arranged in two rich black braids
tied up so as to extend only to her shoulders. The hair on the front
part of her head was allowed to come forward, but not enough to forbid
glimpses of a well rounded, beautiful forehead. As she stood there,
symmetrical in form, just large and tall enough to be commanding in
appearance, Ensal again inwardly declared that she was the most
beautiful woman he had ever seen, heard of or dreamed about. Her eyes
would have made a face of less regular features appear beautiful. As for
Tiara, they made her beauty simply dazzling.

When Earl's wits, swept away by Tiara's beauty, slowly returned, it
dawned upon him to his great astonishment that he was face to face with
the young woman who had ridden into Almaville with Ensal and himself.

"If she was Ensal's friend, why did he not make himself known to her on
the train?" asked Earl of himself. But this query was soon dislodged
from his mind by one of far more interest to him, to wit: "Is it not
likely that I may utilize this young woman as a means of bringing to me
a second glimpse of that girl that paid us a visit from the coach for
whites?"

Earl was introduced in due form and joined in the conversation now and
then; but it was evident to Ensal that he was, for some cause, ill at
ease. Tiara and Ensal, however, enjoyed the evening, each intently
weighing the remarks of the other.

They say that Cupid is blind. This may be true of him at some stage of
the proceedings, but when he is looking for a spot at which to let fly
an arrow, he could play schoolmaster to Argus, of the many eyes.

Ensal and Earl departed, Ensal going home to live the evening over
through the night, while Earl called upon Leroy Crutcher and engaged him
to use Tiara Merlow as a clue to trace the unknown young woman.

"Is this honorable, this forming an alliance with Leroy Crutcher, this
placing of a surveillance, as it were, on the movements of my friend's
friend?"

These questions came to Earl more than once that night and the answer of
the hot blood of his soul was: "Conditions have made me an outlaw among
my kind. Rubbish aside, am I not as much of an Anglo-Saxon as any of
them? Does not my