ds:

"Accepted.
GEORGE FAIRFAX CARTER,
of Cartersville."

Then he folded the paper carefully and slipped it into his inside
pocket.

This done, he shook Fitz's hand gravely, nodded to me with the air of
a man absorbed in some weighty matter, picked up his cane and hat and
left the office.

"What in the name of common-sense is he going to do with that,
Fitz?" I asked.

"I give it up," said Fitz. "Ask me an easy one. Dear old soul, isn't
he lovely? He's as much worried over the market as if every dollar at
stake was his own. Now you've got to excuse me, Major. I've got a
land-office business on hand to-day."

The Colonel's manner as he left the room had been so calm and
measured, his back so straight, the swing of his cane so rhythmical,
his firm military tread so full of courage and determination, that I
had not followed him. When he is in these moods it is best to let him
have his own way. Fitz and I had discovered this some days before,
when we tried to dissuade him from planting into Klutchem's rotundity
the bullets which Chad had cast with so much care.

Had I questioned him as he walked out this morning he would doubtless
have said, "I do not expect you Nawthern men, with yo'r contracted
ideas of what constitutes a man's personal honor, to understand the
view I take of this mattuh, Major, but my blood requires it. I never
forget that I am a Caarter, suh,--and you must never forget it
either."

Moreover, had I gone with him the visit might have assumed an air of
undue importance. There was nothing therefore for me to do but to
wait. So I buried my self in an arm-chair, picked up the morning
papers, and tried to possess my soul in patience until the Colonel
should again make his appearance with a full report of his mission.

Twice during my long wait Fitz burst in, grabbed up some papers from
his desk and bounded out again, firing some orders to his clerks as he
disappeared through the door. He was too absorbed to more than nod to
me, and he never once mentioned the Colonel's name.

About noon a customer in the outer office--there were half a dozen of
them watching the ticker--handed an "extra" to the clerk, who brought
it to me. Consolidated Smelting was up ten points; somebody had got
out an injunction, and two small concerns in Broad Street had struck
their colors and sent word to the Exchange that they could not meet
their contracts.

Still no Colonel!

H