obedience to his
wishes," I protested. "He would not be satisfied if I should do no more
than you request, and I cannot afford to disappoint him."

He looked at me with a calculating eye, and I expected to see him put
his hand in his pocket; but Hartley Benson played his cards better than
that. "Very well," said he, "if you persist in regarding my father's
wishes as paramount, I have nothing to say. Fulfil your duties as you
conceive them, but don't look for my support if any foolish misadventure
makes you ashamed of yourself." And drawing back, he motioned me out of
the room.

I felt I had received a check, and hurried out of the house. But
scarcely had I entered upon the walk that led down to the gate, when I
heard a light step behind me. Turning, I encountered the pretty daughter
of the house, the youthful Miss Carrie.

"Wait," she cried, allowing herself to display her emotion freely in
face and bearing. "I have heard who you are from my brother," she
continued, approaching me with a soft grace that at once put me upon my
guard. "Now, tell me who are the rowdies that threaten to invade our
grounds?"

"I do not know their names, miss," I responded; "but they are a
rough-looking set you would not like to see among your guests."

"There are no very rough-looking men in our village," she declared; "you
must be mistaken in regard to them. My father is nervous and easily
alarmed. It was wrong to arouse his fears."

I thought of that steady eye of his, of force sufficient to hold in awe
a regiment of insurgents, and smiled at her opinion of my understanding.

"Then you do not wish the grounds guarded," I said, in as indifferent a
tone as I could assume.

"I do not consider it necessary."

"But I have already pledged myself to fulfil your father's commands."

"I know," she said, drawing a step nearer, with a most enchanting smile.
"And that was right under the circumstances; but we, his children, who
may be presumed to know more of social matters than a recluse,--I,
especially," she added, with a certain emphasis, "tell you it is not
necessary. We fear the scandal it may cause; besides, some of the guests
may choose to linger about the grounds under the trees, and would be
rather startled at being arrested as intruders."

"What, then, do you wish me to do?" I asked, leaning toward her, with an
appearance of yielding.

"To accept this money," she murmured, blushing, "and confine yourself
to-night to remaining