had
made a mistake in not having donned a disguise before entering this
house, and that, oppressed by the idea, he withdrew his attention from
the man he had come to watch, and fixed it upon more immediate and
personal matters.

The meal was half over. Mr. Byrd who, as a stranger of more than
ordinary good looks and prepossessing manners, had been placed by the
obliging landlady between her own daughter and a lady of doubtful
attractions, was endeavoring to improve his advantages and make himself
as agreeable as possible to both of his neighbors, when he heard a lady
near him say aloud, "You are late, Mr. Mansell," and, looking up in his
amazement, saw entering the door---- Well, in the presence of the real
owner of this name, he wondered he ever could have fixed upon the other
man as the original of the person that had been described to him. The
strong face, the sombre expression, the herculean frame, were unique,
and in the comparison which they inevitably called forth, made all other
men in the room look dwarfed if not actually commonplace.

Greatly surprised at this new turn of affairs, and satisfied that he at
last had before him the man who had confronted Miss Dare in the Syracuse
depot, he turned his attention back to the ladies. He, however, took
care to keep one ear open on the side of the new-comer, in the hope of
gleaning from his style and manner of conversation some notion of his
disposition and nature.

But Craik Mansell was at no time a talkative man, and at this especial
period of his career was less inclined than ever to enter into the
trivial debates or good-natured repartee that was the staple of
conversation at Mrs. Hart's table.

So Mr. Byrd's wishes in this regard were foiled. He succeeded, however,
in assuring himself by a square look, into the other's face, that to
whatever temptation this man may have succumbed, or of whatever crime he
may have been guilty, he was by nature neither cold, cruel, nor
treacherous, and that the deadly blow, if dealt by him, was the
offspring of some sudden impulse or violent ebullition of temper, and
was being repented of with every breath he drew.

But this discovery, though it modified Mr. Byrd's own sense of personal
revolt against the man, could not influence him in the discharge of his
duty, which was to save another of less interesting and perhaps less
valuable traits of character from the consequences of a crime he had
never committed. It was, therefor