f you have
such a thing about the place."

The old man hesitated.

"I'll pay well for it," said the other, eagerly.

"You see, we haven't a license, stranger, to sell drinks, and they're
pretty strict with us hereabouts. I generally let a man have it when I
know him pretty well, but I can't say how it would affect you."

"Have no fear on that score," returned the other. "Here's a five-dollar
note for a pint bottle of brandy. Will that pay you?"

"Yes," returned the innkeeper. It was the golden key. The man laughed to
see how quickly he trotted off on his errand, returning with the bottle
in a trice.

"Anything else, sir?" he said.

"No," replied the other, "save," adding, "do not call us too early
to-morrow. We're not of the kind that rise with the sun. Nine o'clock
will answer. And see that that wife of yours gets up the best breakfast
that can be obtained."

"You won't have to complain of that, sir," exclaimed the innkeeper,
pompously. "You'll get a piece of steak with the blood followin' the
knife; crisp potatoes, a plate of buckwheat cakes, with butter as is
butter, and honey that's the real thing; a mug of coffee that would bear
up an egg, with good old-fashioned cream, not skim milk, to say nothing
of--"

"That will do," exclaimed the stranger, with an impatient wave of his
white hand. "I never like to know beforehand what I'm going to get."

"But the lady, sir? Mebbe she'd like somethin' kind a delicate like--a
bit o' bird or somethin' like that?"

"We'll see about that to-morrow all in good time," fairly closing the
door in the garrulous innkeeper's face "Good-night," and he shut the
door with a click and turned the key in the lock, and for the first time
he was alone with the girl he had forced so dastardly into the cruellest
of marriages. He had placed Faynie on the white couch. He crossed the
room and stood looking down at her, with his hands behind his back, and
a sardonic smile on his face.

"You and your millions of money belong to me," he cried, under his
breath. "Ye gods! what a lucky dog I am after all!" and a low laugh that
was not pleasant to hear broke from his lips.

At that instant a broken sigh stirred the girl's white lips.

"Ah, you are coming to, are you?" he muttered. "The old lady's toddy is
beginning to revive you."

He could not help but notice how unusually beautiful the girl was.

"What a chance of fortune this is for me, but it does not follow, even
though she was ma