hat never should you speak to me again. Well! opinion
and will have their mutations. Men of their word, Major Churchill, know
better than most how little worth are the words of men. However you come
here to-night, pray believe that you are welcome, and that I would
gladly be friends."

Major Edward drew a long breath, pushed back his chair somewhat from the
warmth of the fire, and from under shaggy brows regarded his
nephew-in-law with the eyes of an old eagle, sombre and fierce. "Be so
good, then, as to conceive that I come with an olive branch."

"It is difficult," said Rand, after a pause and with a smile, "to
conceive that, but if it be true, sir, then hail to the olive! This feud
was not of my seeking." He leaned forward from his chair and held out
his hand. "Ever since the days of the blue room and that deep draught of
Fontenoy kindness, a light has dwelt for me over the place. Will you not
shake hands, sir?"

The other made an irresolute movement, then drew back. "Let us wait a
little," he exclaimed harshly. "Perhaps I will, sir, in the end,
perhaps I will! It is in the hope that eventually we will strike hands
that I sit here. But such signs of amity come with better grace at the
battle's end--" He paused and glared at the fire.

"There is, then, to be a battle?"

The Major swung around from the red light of the logs. "Mr. Rand, we--my
brother Dick and I--propose a lasting peace between the two houses,
between Fontenoy and Roselands. My brother Henry, sir, the father of--of
your wife, sir, was as near to us in love as in blood, and the honour,
safety, and peace of mind of his daughter are very much our concern! You
will say that by perseverance in this long estrangement we have ignored
the last of these. Perhaps, sir, perhaps! Old men are obstinate, and
their wounds do not heal like those of youth. Enough of that! We--my
brother Dick and I--are prepared to let bygones be bygones. We have
cudgelled our brains--I mean, we have talked matters over. We are
prepared, Mr. Rand, to meet you halfway--"

"Thank you," said Rand. "On what specific proposition?"

Major Edward rose, took a short turn in the room, and came back to his
chair. "Mr. Rand, in the matter of the nomination for Governor, is it
too late to recall your refusal? I think not, sir. Your party has named
no other candidate. As a Federalist, I know, sir, but little of that
party's inner working, but I am told that you would sweep the state. Far
be i