e
shoved open the door and went into the room. Clarke had evidently
just returned from a tramp in the hills, for his garments were
covered with burrs and his boots were dusty. He looked tired, but
his face was calm.

"Why, Col. Zane! Have a seat. What can I do for you?"

"I have come to ask you to explain a remark of my sister's."

"Very well, I am at your service," answered Alfred slowly lighting
his pipe, after which he looked straight into Col. Zane's face.

"My sister informs me that you insulted her last fall before you
left the Fort. I am sure you are neither a liar nor a coward, and I
expect you to answer as a man."

"Col. Zane, I am not a liar, and I hope I am not a coward," said
Alfred coolly. He took a long pull on his pipe and blew a puff of
white smoke toward the ceiling.

"I believe you, but I must have an explanation. There is something
wrong somewhere. I saw Betty pass you without speaking this morning.
I did not like it and I took her to task about it. She then said you
had insulted her. Betty is prone to exaggerate, especially when
angry, but she never told me a lie in her life. Ever since you
pulled Isaac out of the river I have taken an interest in you.
That's why I'd like to avoid any trouble. But this thing has gone
far enough. Now be sensible, swallow your pride and let me hear your
side of the story."

Alfred had turned pale at his visitor's first words. There was no
mistaking Col. Zane's manner. Alfred well knew that the Colonel, if
he found Betty had really been insulted, would call him out and kill
him. Col. Zane spoke quietly, ever kindly, but there was an
undercurrent of intense feeling in his voice, a certain deadly
intent which boded ill to anyone who might cross him at that moment.
Alfred's first impulse was a reckless desire to tell Col. Zane he
had nothing to explain and that he stood ready to give any
satisfaction in his power. But he wisely thought better of this. It
struck him that this would not be fair, for no matter what the girl
had done the Colonel had always been his friend. So Alfred pulled
himself together and resolved to make a clean breast of the whole
affair.

"Col. Zane, I do not feel that I owe your sister anything, and what
I am going to tell you is simply because you have always been my
friend, and I do not want you to have any wrong ideas about me. I'll
tell you the truth and you can be the judge as to whether or not I
insulted your sister. I fell in love w