safe in my house," said the
doctor after a long pause. "But I wish you to understand clearly and
precisely what I mean. I am not the man to shield a deserter or a Yankee
from the penalty due to his crimes. You came into my house with a wounded
man. I am an Arab on the subject of hospitality. Whoever comes into my
house is my guest; and I never betrayed a man who trusted in me."

"Thank you, doctor."

"You needn't thank me, for I despise you from the deepest depths of my
heart; and in due time you will fall into the hands of the military
authorities, but not in my house."

"Thank you, Dr. Scoville. I appreciate your hospitality, and despise you
as much as you do me," answered De Banyan.

"Despise me! How dare you----"

"Oh! I dare do anything; and I beg leave to inform you that neither
myself nor my friend will fall into the hands of the soldiers, either in
your house or outside of it. You can set your mind entirely at ease on
that subject."

"I am tempted for once to violate even my own law of hospitality."

"As you please, doctor; that matter is for you to consider, not for me.
But I beg you to understand precisely what I say. I am very thankful to
you for your kindness; and I assure you that whatever you do and say, I
shall remember your hospitality with the most grateful emotions. I speak
for myself and for my friend."

Dr. Scoville seemed to be very much perplexed, as the captain evidently
intended he should be; and, turning abruptly from the deserter, he paced
the room, rapidly and in silence, for several minutes. De Banyan sat down
by the side of Somers, and said a great many comforting things to him,
which, in his weak and suffering condition, were as grateful as a woman's
smile at the couch of pain.

Breakfast was ready, and with the utmost politeness the doctor conducted
his guest to the table, while one of the black women was ordered to
supply the wants of the patient on the sofa. During the meal, not a word
was said about the war, or the peculiar circumstances under which the
patient and his friend had come to the house. The captain discoursed
about the wars in other lands, and it is more than probable that he
exercised the credulity of the doctor to the utmost. Both the host and
the guest were affable to the last degree; for the choleric physician was
conscious that he had more than a match in the other.

After breakfast, Somers was conducted to the guest-chamber on the second
floor of the mansi