of the people and time, and ended in absurd
complications, if anybody was foolish enough to try it. Shoot him? The
idea floated through his mind, for he thought of everything; but he was
a lawyer, and not a fool, and had no idea of figuring in court as a
criminal. Besides, he was not a murderer,--cunning was his natural
weapon, not violence. He had a certain admiration of desperate crime in
others, as showing nerve and force, but he did not feel it to be his own
style of doing business.

During the night he made every arrangement for leaving the village the
next day, in case he failed to make any impression on Myrtle Hazard and
found that his chance was gone. He wrote a letter to his partner,
telling him that he had left to join one of the regiments forming in the
city. He adjusted all his business matters so that his partner should
find as little trouble as possible. A little before dawn he threw
himself on the bed, but he could not sleep; and he rose at sunrise, and
finished his preparations for his departure to the city.

The morning dragged along slowly. He would not go to the office, not
wishing to meet his partner again. After breakfast he dressed himself
with great care, for he meant to show himself in the best possible
aspect. Just before he left the house to go to The Poplars, he took the
sealed package from his trunk, broke open the envelope, took from it a
single paper,--it had some spots on it which distinguished it from all
the rest,--put it separately in his pocket, and then the envelope
containing the other papers.

The calm smile he wore on his features as he set forth cost him a
greater effort than he had ever made before to put it on. He was
moulding his face to the look with which he meant to present himself;
and the muscles had been sternly fixed so long that it was a task to
bring them to their habitual expression in company,--that of ingenuous
good-nature.

He was shown into the parlor at The Poplars; and Kitty told Myrtle that
he had called and inquired for her, and was waiting down stairs.

"Tell him I will be down presently," she said. "And, Kitty, now mind
just what I tell you. Leave your kitchen door open, so that you can hear
anything fall in the parlor. If you hear a book fall,--it will be a
heavy one, and will make some noise,--run straight up here to my little
chamber, and hang this red scarf out of the window. The _left-hand
side-sash_, mind, so that anybody can see it from the road