ere one has lived before very unreal and far
distant. Two weeks of such dreamy living drifted the city, and the
violent things that had been done there, so far behind me that I could
think of them without a tremor. I could even think of my own part in
them as if it had happened in a play.

Then one evening, just before dark, a boy on a heavily lathered horse
rode up to the piazza steps, and, like the messenger in a novel, handed
me a letter. It was from father. "Have everything in readiness to
start to-morrow morning," he wrote. "I shall expect you at the house
at six-thirty to-morrow night without fail." This letter threw me into
a flutter of excitement. I was accustomed to short-notice orders from
father, orders that carried no explanations; but they had always been
sent through the mails. A messenger meant great need of haste. I
recognized him as father's office-boy. Was my father ill, I asked.

No, he was in excellent health.

I thought, "Perhaps he has been suddenly called out of the city and
wants to see me before he leaves home." It surely couldn't be that
this summons had anything to do with Johnny Montgomery's case. Having
to rush off at such short notice I was luckily too busy to have time to
worry about it; coming up through the valley Perez let me drive a good
deal, and the horses were so spirited I needed all my wits to keep them
from running away. But when we began to wind in and out among the tall
round hills to the south of the city a nervousness came upon me, and I
kept wondering what could be wanted of me. By the time we reached the
house on Washington Street I could scarcely sit still.

Father was standing in the door to welcome me. I fairly flew up the
steps. "What is the matter?" I asked, almost before I hugged him.

"By, and by we will talk about that," he said. "Now, come in and see
what a fine host I am." But as I passed him, I heard him saying to
Perez, "Before you put up the horses I want you to take this note out
to Mr. James Dingley, at his house, and wait for an answer."

It was a charming table, lit with candles, and there was a delicious
dinner, but I was too excited to eat. The glass of wine that father
made me drink only seemed to make my thoughts spin faster, wondering
what could be going on since by father's manner, and the message he had
given Perez I felt sure it must be something unusual. When dessert had
been put on, and Lee had gone out, leaving us alone t