was a moral coward. He knew
that James Harrington was the only person to whom he could look for
help--and yet the very thought of applying to him, made the gall rise
bitterly in his bosom. To save time, he gave notes for the debt, and
made no change in his life, save that he was away from home now almost
constantly--a circumstance which the members of his household scarcely
remarked in their new-found happiness.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE NOTE ON THE BREAKFAST TABLE.

One morning General Harrington came forth from his bed chamber, harassed
and anxious. He had slept little during the night, and the weariness of
age would make itself felt, after a season of excitement like that
through which he had passed.

He found the Sevres cup on his table, filled with strong, hot coffee,
and a muffin delicately toasted, upon the salver of frosted silver, by
its side. Indeed, as he entered the room, a flutter of garments reached
him from the door, and he muttered, with a smile, as he looked in an
opposite mirror.

"Faith, the little girl is very kind; I must think of this." He sat down
and drank off the coffee, rejecting the muffin with a faint expression
of disgust. As he lifted it from the salver, a note, lying half across
the edge, as if it had lodged there when the papers on the table were
pushed aside, attracted his attention. He was about to cast it on one
side, when a singular perfume came across him with a sickening
sweetness. Snatching at the note, he stared an instant at the seal, and
tore it open.

The color left General Harrington's cheek. As he read he started up,
crushing the note in his hand, while he rang the bell.

"Did you ring, General. I was going by, and so answered the bell," said
Agnes Barker, presenting herself.

"Yes, I rang, certainly I rang--but where are the servants? Where is the
woman who takes charge of my rooms?"

"The chambermaid? oh, she went away yesterday. I believe Mrs. Harrington
has not supplied her place yet."

"Who brought up my coffee? who arranged my rooms yesterday and this
morning?"

Agnes blushed, and cast down her eyes in pretty confusion. "The new cook
has not learned your ways, sir; there was no one else, and I"----

"You are very kind, Miss Agnes--another time I shall not forget it: but,
tell me, here is a note lying on my table near the breakfast tray; how
long has it been there--who brought it--where did it come from?"

Agnes looked up, with the most innocent face