ery man needs to be mothered by a woman, a charge
which any good woman, young or old, will instinctively assume, even if
she knows that it may be only a cross for her to bear." Her voice was
low, almost a whisper, may be a first whisper of the mother of men in
her, a revelation to all women, come it when it may; and that thought
kept me silent.

We had, by this time, reached the Dower House, and she said
"Good-night," and I answered, as simply, "Good-night."

What I really said to myself was, "Philandering, was I, instead of
soldering, on the night the Black Colonel was raided--that's the story
she's heard!"

And I was concerned, strangely concerned--like Marget herself.

_VI--The Finger of Fate_

Here I was in a double tangle of private affairs, for I had the Black
Colonel's designs upon Marget Forbes to handle, and I had her mistaken
notion of my doings to disperse. It was a drumly outlook for one whose
chief equipment was honesty of purpose, with, I am afraid, little of
the arts of human diplomacy.

Marget had all the woman's acute anxiety when a man's act seemed
hidden, or, at least, uncertain, even if he was no more to her than a
kinsman. It is from those delicate things that half our troubles
spring, because, as between man and woman, they cannot be explained in
words. They must be left to reveal themselves, and meanwhile they may
destroy sweet possibilities or gracious relationships.

My difficulty with the Black Colonel was still more complicated, for it
was as if a hair-rope of many strands, such as the Highlanders made,
enwound us. We were public enemies, sworn to causes which could have
no dealings with each other. Yet we had met secretly; and though that
mattered little to him it might easily ruin me, or, at all events, my
military career.

But, may be, I could remove that danger by a simple report to my
superiors saying what had happened. Could I? No; I could not, for a
woman's reputation was, all unknown to her, engaged in the affair, and
that takes us directly to Marget Forbes and the Black Colonel's designs
upon her name and estates.

I knew he would not stop at the sending to me of his letter, and
getting no immediate answer, which was the course I had taken, if only
because his last throw with affairs was involved. Therefore I looked
for some further act, and, having regard to the difficulty of personal
meetings, and his amiable weakness for writing, as something in which
he