en, after awhile, "I would have gone out there
where those men were, and--well, I don't know what I wouldn't have
done!"

"Didn't Gabriel tell you? Why----" Nan paused.

"Not he! Not Gabriel!" cried Mrs. Lumsden in a voice full of pride. "He
wanted to spare his grandmother one night's worry, and he did."

"Didn't you know when he kissed you good-night that something was
wrong?" Nan inquired.

"How should I? Why, he sometimes comes and kisses me in the middle of
the night, even after he has gone to bed. He says he sleeps better
afterwards."

What was there in this simple statement to cause Nan to catch her
breath, and seize the hand that was caressing her. For one thing, it
presented the tender side of Gabriel's nature in a new light; and for
the rest--well, who shall pretend to fathom a young woman's heart?

"Yes, he was always doing something of that kind," remarked the
grandmother proudly; "and I have often thought that he should have been
a girl."

"A girl!" cried Nan.

"Yes; he will marry some woman who doesn't appreciate his finer
qualities--the tenderness and affection that he tries to hide from
everybody but his grandmother; and he will go about with a hungry heart,
and his wife will never suspect it. I am afraid I dislike her already."

"Oh, don't say that!" Nan implored.

"But if he was a girl," the grandmother went on, "he would be better
prepared to endure coldness and neglect. This is partly what we were
born for, my dear, as you will find out one day for yourself."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

_Captain Falconer Makes Suggestions_

It was not often that Mr. Sanders had a surprise, but he found one
awaiting him when he left the Lumsden Place, and started in the
direction of home. He had not taken twenty steps before he met the young
Captain who had charge of the detachment of Federal troops stationed at
Shady Dale.

"This is Mr. Sanders, I believe," he said without ceremony. "My name is
Falconer. I have just been to call on Mr. Clopton, but they tell me
there that he is at Mrs. Lumsden's."

"Well, I wouldn't advise you to go there," said Mr. Sanders, bluntly.
"The lady is in a considerbul state of mind about her gran'son."

"It is a miserable piece of business all the way through," remarked
Captain Falconer. There was a note of sympathy in his voice, which Mr.
Sanders could not fail to catch, and it interested him.

"I called upon my cousin, Mrs. Claiborne, for the first time to-day,"