e. But no, who is it--and what on earth have you done with
him?"

Brother Soulsby cackled in merriment. "It's Brother Ware of Octavius,
out on a little bat, all by himself. He says he's been on the loose only
two days; but it looks more like a fortnight."

"OUR Brother Ware?" she regarded him with open-eyed surprise.

"Well, yes, I suppose he's OUR Brother Ware--some," returned Soulsby,
genially. "He seems to think so, anyway."

"But tell me about it!" she urged eagerly. "What's the matter with him?
How does he explain it?"

"Well, he explains it pretty badly, if you ask me," said Soulsby, with
a droll, joking eye and a mock-serious voice. He seated himself on the
side of the bed, facing her, and still considerately shielding her
from the light of the lamp he held. "But don't think I suggested any
explanations. I've been a mother myself. He's merely filled himself up
to the neck with rum, in the simple, ordinary, good old-fashioned way.
That's all. What is there to explain about that?"

She looked meditatively at him for a time, shaking her head. "No,
Soulsby," she said gravely, at last. "This isn't any laughing matter.
You may be sure something bad has happened, to set him off like that.
I'm going to get up and dress right now. What time is it?"

"Now don't you do anything of the sort," he urged persuasively. "It
isn't five o'clock; it'll be dark for nearly an hour yet. Just you turn
over, and have another nap. He's all right. I put him on the sofa, with
the buffalo robe round him. You'll find him there, safe and sound, when
it's time for white folks to get up. You know how it breaks you up all
day, not to get your full sleep."

"I don't care if it makes me look as old as the everlasting hills," she
said. "Can't you understand, Soulsby? The thing worries me--gets on my
nerves. I couldn't close an eye, if I tried. I took a great fancy to
that young man. I told you so at the time."

Soulsby nodded, and turned down the wick of his lamp a trifle. "Yes, I
know you did," he remarked in placidly non-contentious tones. "I
can't say I saw much in him myself, but I daresay you're right." There
followed a moment's silence, during which he experimented in turning the
wick up again. "But, anyway," he went on, "there isn't anything you can
do. He'll sleep it off, and the longer he's left alone the better. It
isn't as if we had a hired girl, who'd come down and find him there, and
give the whole thing away. He's fixed up th