stricken by
apoplexy, which was the first, or vertigo, which was the later, theory,
Colonel Peleg Stone had been found lying bleeding and unconscious at the
foot of the stairs, and almost at his parlor door, just after sick-call.
He had arisen early, said his tearful and terrified wife, saying that
matters of importance demanded his presence at the office before
guard-mounting. He had been wakeful and restless during the night. He
had called for hot water soon after reveille, and gone into his
dressing-room to shave. This was all she knew until aroused an hour
later by her frightened maid, with the tidings that the colonel was
lying speechless in the hall. Both doctors and Mr. Leonard were
summoned. Violence was hinted at, but the orderly pacing the front
piazza declared that no one had entered the front door since he came
over and rang the bell to report himself for duty just as soon as he had
finished breakfast. "For them was the colonel's orders when he dismissed
me last night." Just about sick-call he heard the sound of a heavy fall
inside, and presently "Jane come a-runnin'," and told him to rush for
the doctors. Alonzo, the colonel's colored body-servant who had followed
his fortunes a dozen years, was in the kitchen below stairs, and was
sure no one had come in from the rear. He, too, had heard the fall and
ran up with Jane, finding his master completely dressed, lying close to
the parlor door, with blood streaming from his nose and mouth. There
were heavy contusions on the forehead and face, caused probably by his
having plunged blindly forward down the stairs. Something in the
stertorous breathing suggested apoplexy, but the doctors soon decided
against that. It might have been vertigo, or he might simply have
tripped at the top and come diving head-foremost all the way down, but
his clothing was not in such disorder as that would cause, and neither
the orderly, nor Jane, nor Alonzo had heard more than one single crash
or thud. Had they examined the parlor and sitting-room to see if any one
could have been there hidden? was asked. No, there wasn't time. The
house was one of the big double sets of quarters, with hall-way and
staircase in the middle, as frequently planned in those days for the
commanding officer of the large frontier garrisons. Four large rooms
were on the ground floor for use as parlor, sitting-, and reception- and
dining-room, all abundantly furnished, as Mrs. Stone was well-to-do, and
there we