land spent so much time crossing
themselves and calling upon her for protection--they certainly had cause
to. The room, in his opinion, was a veritable rat-hole; the place
little better than what one might expect to find in a suburb of hell.

The exertions of the last two days had been more than mortal could
endure. Never had he felt so completely fagged, and it was with no
little concern that he contemplated the reflection of his face in the
small oval mirror which hung on the rough gray plaster wall opposite,
just over the small, cheap, brown-stained wooden bureau. The sight of
his countenance, as is the case with most of us who have not yet entered
the limbo of senile decrepitude and still dare look ourselves in the
face, was always a source of extreme satisfaction to him. He held it in
the highest esteem as though it were the head of some beautiful antique
Apollo, and in his, the Colonel's estimation, was the handsomest face on
earth.

Indeed it was a handsome face, and like many others both in and outside
of his particular set, he devoted hours to its preservation.

What was John, his valet, for? To press his clothes and run errands? Not
at all. He was there to massage that precious face and drive away all
harassing signs of care and age by means of a liberal use of cold cream
and enamel. In the present instance, barring a sun-scorched nose, his
delicately rouged cheeks like his exquisitely manicured finger tips
blushed with rose of vermilion like those of the daughters of Judea of
old, contrasting favorably with his dark eyes, wavy white hair, and
mustache and eyebrows dyed a jet black. His regular features, long
slender white hands, and tall erect figure betokened the born aristocrat
of the spoiled, luxurious type.

In spite of his determination not to sleep a wink, this overindulged
child and arch hypocrite, fell asleep almost the instant his tired head
touched the pillow, and would have slept to a comparatively late hour
had it not been for the ceaseless crowing of a cock in the barnyard,
awakening him at daybreak.

What a land, where people were not even permitted to sleep! Vague
apprehensions for the future went flitting through his mind, and, as he
lay in bed moodily contemplating through the window the first sunrise he
had witnessed in years, he cursed fate and his nephew, and secretly
vowed that he would wring that infernal bird's neck at the first
opportunity.

Mrs. Forest's mental attitude resembl