am aware that such a thing exists. And I hope, sir,
that you will remember how you gained that knowledge."

"I am in no danger of forgetting."

"Very well. Your journey here to-night was a useless as well as a
dangerous one. I have nothing to say to you."

"Will you tell me one thing?" said Landless, patiently. "What will Major
Carrington have to say to me upon the day when I speak to him as a free
man with free men behind me?"

"Upon that day," said the other, composedly, "Miles Carrington will
submit to the inevitable with a good grace, having been, as is well
known, a friend to the Commonwealth, and having always, even when there
was danger in so doing, spoken against the cruel and iniquitous
enslavement of men whose only offense was non-conformity, or the having
served under the banners of Cromwell."

"If he should be offered Cromwell's position in the new Commonwealth,
what then?"

"Pshaw! no such offer will be made."

"We must have weight and respectability, must identify ourselves with
that Virginia in which we are strangers, if we are to endure," said
Landless, with a smile. "A fact that we perfectly recognize--as does
Major Carrington. He probably knows who is of, and yet head and
shoulders above, that party in the state upon whose support we must
ultimately rely, who alone could lead that party; who alone might
reconcile Royalist and Puritan;--and to whom alone the offer I speak of
will be made."

Carrington smiled despite himself. "Well, then, if the offer is made, I
will accept it. In short, when your man is out of the bog I will lend
my aid to cleanse him of the stains incurred in the transit. But he must
pull himself out of the mire. I am safe upon the bank, I will not be
drawn with him into a bottomless ruin. Do I make myself plain?"

"Perfectly," said Landless, dryly.

The other flushed beneath the tone. "You think perhaps that I play but a
craven part in this game. I do not. God knows I run a tremendous risk as
it is, without madly pledging life and honor to this desperate
enterprise!"

"I fail to see the risk," said Landless, coldly.

The other struck his hand against the table. "I risk a slave
insurrection!" he said.

A noise outside the door made them start like guilty things. The door
opened softly and a charming vision appeared, to wit, Mistress Betty
Carrington, rosy from sleep and hastily clad in a dressing-gown of
sombre silk. Her little white feet were bare, and her dark hair