u to
listen to me. Will you retire at your usual hour?"

"I will see that father keeps to the house," Julia said, with an
unexpected firmness which surprised both her hearers. As she spoke she
thrust her arm through the Major's and pressed it gently.

"There is not the slightest necessity for either of you to sit up,"
resumed Glenning. "I shall come and quietly go around to the smoke-house
and remain there till morning. And please do not be alarmed
unnecessarily. I shall keep my word to you, Major, depend upon that, and
above all, go to sleep with the positive assurance that The Prince shall
pass through this night unharmed."

He clasped each one's hand firmly, and turned away.

As the tall, upright form disappeared down the avenue, Julia put one
hand upon her father's cheek.

"Daddy," she said, "this night I must hear why Devil Marston hates us."

CHAPTER VI

The day had been very warm, and the old settee on the portico offered a
comfortable seat, so it was here Major Dudley and Julia decided to stay.
The master of the house made one more effort at postponement, but the
young mistress would have none of it. It must be that night, and at
once. Affairs had shaped themselves in such a manner that a complete
revelation of all that had been kept hidden from her was imperative. So
Peter fetched the long-stemmed meerschaum pipe which his master never
smoked except of evenings, and received his instructions regarding the
colt. These, by the way, were superfluous, for the negro had already
made his arrangements to be a bed-mate of The Prince that night. Then,
with the faint odour of the cherished honeysuckle at the corner of the
house in their nostrils, and the faraway plaint of a mourning
whip-poor-will floating spookily up from the lowlands on their right,
they settled themselves, one to the task of telling a story he had
rather have kept, and the other listening eagerly, yet with a certain
dread. Julia felt that a new existence was opening up for her, and it
looked formidable enough in the uncertain atmosphere which now enveloped
it. Hitherto her way had been smooth, and her tasks and renunciations
had been those of love. But as she thought of that dark-faced, brutish
looking man who lived only a half mile further down the road, and knew
that in some way both he and she were concerned in the tale she was to
hear, for the first time in her happy life a vague terror took hold of
her and her body sank closer to