Elaine's door, Mr. Bradford not
being aware that the poet had changed his room. Having safely accomplished
his last errand, the tension relaxed, and he went downstairs with more
assurance, his pace being unduly hastened by a subdued howl from one of
the twins.

Bidding himself be calm, he got to the front door, and drew a long breath
of relief as he closed it noiselessly. There was a light in Mrs. Holmes's
room now, and Mr. Bradford did not wish to linger. He gathered up his
shoes and fairly ran downhill, arriving at his office much shaken in mind
and body, nearly two hours after he had started.

"I do not know," he said to himself, "why the Colonel should have been so
particular as to dates and hours, but he knew his own business best."
Then, further in accordance with his instructions, he burned a number of
letters which could not be delivered personally.

If Mr. Bradford could have seen the company which met at the breakfast
table the following morning, he would have been amply repaid for his
supreme effort of the night before, had he been blessed with any sense of
humour at all. The Carrs were untroubled, and Elaine appeared as usual,
except for her haughty indifference to Mr. Perkins. She thought he had
written a letter to himself and slipped it under her door, in order to
compel her to speak to him, but she had tactfully avoided that difficulty
by leaving it on his own threshold. Dick's eyes were dancing and at
intervals his mirth bubbled over, needlessly, as every one else appeared
to think.

"I doesn't know wot folks finds to laugh at," remarked Mrs. Smithers, as
she brought in the coffee; "that's wot I doesn't. It's a solemn time, I
take it, when the sheeted spectres of the dead walks abroad by night,
that's wot it is. It's time for folks to be thinkin' about their immortal
souls."

This enigmatical utterance produced a startling effect. Mr. Perkins turned
a pale green and hastily excused himself, his breakfast wholly untouched.
Mrs. Holmes dropped her fork and recovered it in evident confusion. Mrs.
Dodd's face was a bright scarlet and appeared about to burst, but she kept
her lips compressed into a thin, tight line. Uncle Israel nodded over his
predigested food. "Just so," he mumbled; "a solemn time."

Eagerly watching for an opportunity, Mrs. Holmes dived into the barn, and
emerged, cautiously, with the spade concealed under her skirts. She
carried it into her own apartment and hid it under Willie's b