d back. "Have I overslept?"

Halfman made a gesture of protestation.

"Nay, nay," he answered. "Your time is your own nag here, to amble,
pad, or gallop as you choose. Have I your permission to wait upon you
in your apartment?"

On Evander's assurances that nothing would afford him greater
pleasure, Halfman favored him with a military salute, and, crossing
the moat by the now restored bridge, disappeared inside the house.
Evander hastened to clothe himself, a task which he had but partially
accomplished when the drumming of a pair of hands upon the door
informed him that his custodian waited at the threshold. He opened
the door, and Halfman walked in wearing for the occasion a manner in
which good-fellowship and condescension, with the consideration of a
noble victor for a noble vanquished, were artfully blended and
emphatically interpreted. He held out his hand for Evander's and gave
to it a martial pressure.

"A soldier should ever be abroad betimes," he asserted. "Wherefore I
applaud your rising."

Evander inquired again, somewhat anxiously, if he had been expected
to appear before, which again Halfman denied.

"Since you have passed your parole," he affirmed, "Harby Hall is
Liberty Hall for you as far as to the park limits. I would have
battered at your door ere this, but I respected your first sleep in a
strange bed, wherein often a bad night makes a late matins. Can you
break your fast?"

Evander answering that he could, Halfman called upon him to follow,
and led the way into an adjoining room, which was, so he assured
Evander, set at his disposal during the period of his stay. The room,
like the bedchamber, was panelled of oak, was handsomely furnished,
and its long windows, which occupied almost the entirety of one wall,
afforded the same view of terrace and garden that Evander had already
seen. Much had been newly done, so Evander could see, to brighten and
cheer the place. A bowl of royal roses stood on the buffet, and
Evander smiled at the delicate defiance. In the alcove of the
window-seat a number of books were piled, books that had patently
been newly dusted, and Evander, glancing at these, found that they
were all theological, an attention which made him smile. A table
decked with lily-white linen and silver furniture bore preparations
for a meal.

"Here, sir," said Halfman, cheerfully, "for some few hours of flying
time, you are, in a word, king of the castle. These rooms are yours
to eat in,