ughters' rooms were broken into, and the girls
turned out on the prairie. It was raining, and I believe they were not
even allowed to provide themselves with suitable clothing. Of course,
nothing of that kind could happen here, or I would not have told you."

Hetty's voice was curiously quiet as she asked, "Was nothing done to
provoke them?"

"Yes," said Clavering, with a dry smile, "Gordon shot one of them; but is
it astonishing? What would you expect of an American if a horde of rabble
who held nothing sacred poured into his house at night? Oh, yes, he shot
one of them, and would have given them the magazine, only that somebody
felled him with an axe. The Dutchman was only grazed, but Gordon is lying
senseless still."

There was an impressive silence, and the man sat still with the veins on
his forehead a trifle swollen and a glow in his eyes. His story was also
accurate, so far as it went; but he had, with a purpose, not told the
whole of it.

"You are sure there were Americans among them?" asked Hetty, very
quietly.

"They were led by Americans. You know one or two of them."

"No," said Hetty, almost fiercely. "I don't know. But Larry wasn't
there?"

Clavering shook his head, but there was a curious incisiveness in his
tone. "Still, we found out that his committee was consulted and
countenanced the affair."

"Then Larry wasn't at the meeting," said Miss Torrance. "He couldn't have
been."

Clavering made her a little and very graceful inclination. "One would
respect such faith as yours."

Miss Schuyler, who was a young woman of some penetration, deftly changed
the topic, and Clavering came near to pleasing her, but he did not quite
succeed, before he took his departure. Then Hetty glanced inquiringly at
her companion.

Flora Schuyler nodded. "I know just what you mean, and I was mistaken."

"Yes?" said Hetty. "Then you like him?"

Miss Schuyler shook her head. "No. I fancied he was clever, and he didn't
come up to my expectations. You see, he was too obvious."

"About Larry?"

"Yes. Are you not just a little inconsistent, Hetty?"

Miss Torrance laughed. "I don't know," she said. "I am, of course, quite
angry with Larry, but nobody else has a right to abuse him."

Flora Schuyler said nothing further, and while she sat in thoughtful
silence Clavering walked down the hall with Hetty's maid. He was a
well-favoured man, and the girl was vain. She blushed when he looked down
on her with a trace of ad