tolen bonds I dismissed the possibility
from my mind.

Though I was relieved to feel that he was not guilty, still I was
worried and nervous over the matter. I felt that it was criminal not to
do something, and yet my hands were tied. I could scarcely undertake an
investigation myself, for every clue led across the trail of the ha'nt,
and that, Rad made it clear, was forbidden ground. The Colonel,
meanwhile, was comparatively quiet, as he supposed the detective was
still working on the case. I accordingly did nothing, but I kept my eyes
open, hoping that something would turn up.

Rad's temper was absolutely unbearable for the first week after the
detective left. The reason had nothing to do with the stolen bonds, but
was concerned entirely with Polly Mathers's behavior. She barely noticed
Rad's existence, so occupied was she with the ecstatic young sheriff.
What the trouble was, I did not know, but I suspected that it was the
whispered conjectures in regard to the ha'nt.

I remember one evening in particular that she snubbed him in the face of
the entire neighborhood. We had arrived at a party a trifle late to
find Polly as usual the center of a laughing group of young men, all
clamoring for dances. They widened their circle to admit Rad in a way
which tacitly acknowledged his prior claim. He inquired with his most
deferential bow what dances she had saved for him. Polly replied in an
off-hand manner that she was sorry but her card was already full. Rad
shrugged nonchalantly, and sauntering toward the door, disappeared for
the rest of the night. When he turned up at Four-Pools early in the
morning, his horse, Uncle Jake informed me, looked as if it had been
ridden by "de debbil hisself."

With Radnor in this state, and the Colonel growing daily more irritable
over the continued mystery of the bonds, it is not strange that matters
between them were at a high state of tension. As I saw more of the
Colonel's treatment of Rad, I came to realize that there was
considerable excuse for Jefferson's wildness. While he was a kind man at
heart, still he had an ungovernable temper, and an absolutely tyrannical
desire to rule every one about him. His was the only free will allowed
on the place. He attempted to treat Rad at twenty-two much as he had
done at twelve. A few months before my arrival (I heard this later) he
had even struck him, whereupon Radnor had turned on his heel and walked
out of the house, and had only consented