s visitor, until, as
the conversation flowed on, it came out that the rector was a
Southerner by birth, although educated for the ministry at the North,
and that his father, the Rev. Charles Mason, was at present filling a
vacancy in a little country church in Enterprise, Florida, where he had
been before the war. The Rev. Arthur Mason could not tell what it was
that warned him of an instantaneous change in the Colonel's manner, it
was so subtle and still so perceptible. There was a settling himself
back in his chair, a tighter clasping of his gold-headed cane with which
he walked, and which he always kept in his hand. He was less talkative,
and finally was silent altogether, and when at last the rector arose to
go, he was not asked to stay or call again. Peter was summoned to show
him the door, the Colonel bowing very stiffly as he went out. How he had
offended, if he had done so, the rector could not guess, and, hearing
within a week or two that the Colonel was indisposed, he called again,
but was not admitted. Col. Crompton was too nervous to see any one, he
was told, and there the acquaintance had ended. The Crompton pew was not
occupied until Howard came and was occasionally seen in it. Evidently
the new rector was a _persona non grata_, and he puzzled his brain for a
reason in vain, until a letter from his father threw some light upon the
subject and induced him to call upon Mrs. Biggs.

As usual she was very loquacious, scarcely allowing him a word, and
ringing changes on her own and Eloise's sprained ankle, until he began
to fear he should have no chance to broach the object of his visit
without seeming to drag it in. The chance came on the return of the
Crompton carriage, with the Colonel sitting stiff and straight and Amy
drooping under her veil beside him. Here was his opportunity, and the
rector seized it, and soon learned nearly all Mrs. Biggs knew of Amy's
arrival at Crompton House and the surmises concerning her antecedents.

"She's a Crompton if there ever was one, and why the Colonel should keep
so close a mouth all these years beats me," was Mrs. Biggs's closing
remark, as she bowed the rector out and went back to Eloise, who felt
that she was getting very familiar with the Crompton history, so far as
Mrs. Biggs knew it.

CHAPTER IX

LETTER FROM REV. CHARLES MASON

"Enterprise, Fla., Sept. --, 18--.

"My dear Arthur:

"I was glad to hear that you were so pleasantly situated and liked yo