me for another person.

"Have we met before, sir?" I asked courteously.

The stranger laughed, and his agitation was gone.

"Pardon my rudeness," he replied. "I had a spasm of pain, to which I am
subject at times, but it has passed off." He pointed to my blue capote
with brass buttons--the summer uniform of the company. "You are a Hudson
Bay man," he added, "and I am another. That is a bond of friendship
between us; is it not so?"

His manner was so captivating that I forgot my first unfavorable
impression cf him; moreover, I felt flattered by the condescension of so
fine a gentleman. I was easily induced to state my name and the position
I held at Fort Royal.

"We shall meet again," he cried, "for I shall be in those parts ere the
summer is over."

"Are you indeed in the company's service?" I asked. "You do not wear--"

"The uniform?" he interrupted, with a touch of hauteur. "No; my duties
are not the same as yours. But I will be as frank as you have been--"
He handed me a folded paper. "Read that," he said in a confidential
tone, leaning over me and exhaling the fumes of wine.

I opened the document, and scanned it briefly. The writing showed,
beyond a doubt, that my new acquaintance was in the secret service of
the Hudson Bay Company, and that he stood high in favor of the governor
himself. I was glad that he had revealed as much to me--a thing he would
not have done but for his potations; for it had dawned on me a moment
before that I had been indiscreet to unbosom myself so freely to a
stranger, who, for aught I knew to the contrary, might be a spy or an
agent of the Northwest Company. I handed the paper back to him, and he
buttoned it tightly under his coat.

"Is that credential enough for you?" he asked.

"I am more than satisfied," I replied.

"Then permit me to introduce myself. I am Captain Myles Rudstone, at
your service--ex-officer of Canadian Volunteers, formerly of London and
Paris, and now serving under the same banner as yourself. In short, I am
a man of the world."

"I judged as much, sir," said I.

"Your perception does you credit," he exclaimed.

"I see that you are a gentleman. And now let us drink together to
celebrate our first meeting."

"With all my heart!" I replied cordially.

I expected that he would ring the bell for madame, but instead of that
he strode around the table to the sleeping stranger in the chair, and
clapped him heavily on the shoulder. The man was roused inst