capable of more effective service. To have his career clogged or goaded
by a woman, who when she either loves or hates will dare anything, would
be a dreadful calamity. Yet it seemed as if he had surrendered his
better self.

This man Anderson puzzled him. Personally he was disposed to dislike
him, that being the logical effect of his relations with him. At the
Coffee House, where he had met him, and where he had suffered his better
judgment to become dormant, it was this man who had brought him to the
pitch of irritation by means of a religious argument, while at the trial
it was the same Anderson who appeared as an excellent witness and who by
his clever, deliberate and self-possessed manner, made a strong point
for the Colonel in the minds of the court.

What was his origin? That he might never know, for of all subjects, this
was the most artfully avoided. In the capacity of a civilian he was
engaged in no fixed occupation so far as could be learned, and it was
commonly known that he was a frequent visitor at the Governor's mansion.
That he did not belong to the service, he knew very well, unless the man
was affecting a disguise; this, however, he thought highly improbable.
The French Alliance had been further confirmed by the arrival of the
fleet, which brought many strangers to the city. Now as he thought of
it, he had a certain manner about him somewhat characteristic of the
French people, and it was entirely possible that he might have
disembarked with the French visitors. He was a mystery anyhow.

"Strange I should stumble across this chap," he mumbled to himself.

III

He awoke with a start.

Just what the hour was, he could not know, for it was intensely dark. He
reckoned that it could not be long after midnight, for it seemed as if
he had scarcely fallen asleep. But there was a wonderful burst of light
to his mind, a complete clarity of thought into which often those do
awake who have fallen asleep in a state of great mental conflict. He
opened his eyes and, as it were, beheld all that he was about to do;
there was also a very vivid memory of his experience of the evening.

He arose hurriedly and struck a light. He seized the letter in search of
the momentous something that had dawned upon him with wonderful
intensity.

"Company Thirteen," he remarked with deliberate emphasis. "That must be
the key."

And seizing a paper he wrote the order of letters which he had copied
from the note a few hour