"

Todd skipped downstairs with the boots and St. George continued
dressing; selecting his best and most becoming scarf; pinning down the
lapels of his buff waistcoat; scissoring the points of his high collar,
and with Todd's assistance working his arms between the slits in the
silk lining of the sleeves of his blue cloth, brass-buttoned coat, which
he finally pulled into place across his chest.

And a well-dressed man he was in spite of the frayed edges of his collar
and shirt ruffles and the shiny spots in his trousers and coat where
the nap was worn smooth, nor was there any man of his age who wore his
clothes as well, no matter what their condition, or one who made so
debonair an appearance.

Pawson was of that opinion to-night when St. George, his toilet
complete, joined him at the bottom of the stairs. Indeed he thought he
had never seen his client look better--a discovery which sent a spasm of
satisfaction through his long body, for he had a piece of important news
to tell him, and had been trying all day to make up his mind how best to
break it.

"You look younger, Mr. Temple," he began, "and, if you will allow me to
say so, handsomer, every day. Your trip to the Eastern Shore last spring
did you no end of good," and the young attorney crooked his long neck
and elevated his eyebrows and the corners of his mouth in the effort to
give to his sinuous body a semblance of mirth.

"Thank you, Pawson," bowed St. George, graciously. "You are really
most kind, but that is because you are stone blind. My shirt is full of
holes, and it is quite likely I shall have to stand all the evening
for fear of splitting the knees of my breeches. Come--out with it"--he
laughed--"there is something you have to tell me or you would not be
waiting for me here at this hour in the cold hall."

Pawson smiled faintly, then his eyebrows lost their identity in some
well-defined wrinkles in his forehead.

"I have, sir, a most unpleasant thing to tell you--a very unpleasant
thing. When I tried this morning for a few days' grace on that last
overdue payment, the agent informed me, to my great surprise, that Mr.
John Gorsuch had bought the mortgage and would thereafter collect the
interest in person. I am not sure, of course, but I am afraid Colonel
Rutter is behind the purchase. If he is we must be prepared to face the
worst should he still feel toward you as he did when you and he"--and he
jerked his thumb meaningly in the direction of