, however; for he immediately felt himself seized from behind by
the shoulders and dragged backwards from his man and completely
overpowered.

The man who was known as Anderson took charge of the Colonel, helping
him to his feet, and without further words led him to one side of the
room, talking softly but deliberately to him as he did so.

A moment later they had passed through the door and vanished down the
street in the direction of the Square.

CHAPTER VI

I

The morrow was one of those rare days when all nature seems to invite
one to go forth and enjoy the good things within her keeping. The
sunrise was menacing; unless the wind shifted before noon it would be
uncomfortably warm. Still, the air was bracing and fragrant with the
soft perfume distilled by the pines.

Stephen felt in tune with nature as he made his early morning toilet. He
gazed the while into the garden from his widely opened window, and
responded instinctively to the call of the countryside. The disagreeable
episode of the preceding day had left unpleasant recollections in his
mind which disconcerted him not a little during his waking hours, the
time when the stream of consciousness begins to flow with an
unrestrained rapidity, starting with the more impressive memories of the
night before. He did not repent his action; he might have repeated the
performance under similar circumstances, yet he chided himself for his
lack of reserve and composure and his great want of respect to a
superior officer.

He was early mounted and on his way, striking off in the direction of
the Germantown Road. He had left word with his landlady of his intended
destination, with the added remark that he would be back in a short
time, a couple of hours at the most, and that he would attend to the
business of the day upon his return. What that might amount to he had
no idea at all, being preoccupied entirely with what he had to do in the
immediate present, for he made it a point never to permit the more
serious affairs of life to intrude upon his moments of relaxation.

He was a pleasant figure to look upon; smooth-faced and athletic, well
mounted and dressed with great preciseness. On his well shaped hands he
wore leathern gauntlets; he was in his uniform of buff and blue; beneath
his coat he had his steel-buckled belt with his holster and pistol in
it; he wore his cocked hat with a buff cockade affixed, the insignia of
his rank in the service.

The road