mysterious absence with Tom Hewlet, appeared pretty well up the hill on
the other side. Seeing Dale, he yelled at him, and shot his pistol in
the air, and--and said a lot of things about the fire. He was too far
away for them to get him."

"This is detestable," the old gentleman locked his jaws. "It's
positively dangerous for that dear girl to go about! I shall not let her
leave Bob's place without some of the hounds!"

"Hounds wouldn't amount to anything. If she tried to set them on anyone,
they'd think it was a cast and be off!" Then quietly added: "I've wired
home for an airedale terrier. With him as her friend, she can go
anywhere!"

"That is most thoughtful," the old gentleman murmured. "But, Brent, that
damned half-wit will take savage delight in spreading his story--" the
Colonel gritted his teeth and could not finish.

"I hardly think so," Brent reassured him. "It just happens that I've
placed him in a most superstitious dread of me--through a little
encounter we had because of an attempt Tom Hewlet made to blackmail me.
Though I mention this in confidence, sir."

"Blackmail! Why, Brent, what does this mean? I feel as though I were
dreaming!" But a deeper anxiety came into his eyes as he recalled some
whisperings of two months back.

"Don't let it worry you. It has been cooked by proper threats of the
penitentiary--" He stopped short, becoming for the first time aware of
Aunt Timmie's presence as she was taking up the goblets with more than
necessary deliberation. When she left, he added: "Anyway, what I
started out to say is, Tusk will keep his mouth shut forever after I get
hold of him. I looked for him in town, and at his half finished cabin,
but he wasn't around. So I'll try again today."

"Do you really think you can stop this?" the Colonel leaned hopefully
forward.

"I know it, unless Tom has successfully disillusioned his mind about my
being a devil."

"A matter which would doubtless require more eloquence than Tom
possesses," the old gentleman's eyes twinkled: but he added in the
former serious voice: "If you can't, sir, I--I shall have his life! I
will, sir!--by God, sir. I will!"

Dale had come quietly to the French window. At his place in the library,
where he had been poring over books, the conversation could have been
heard, but none of it drew his attention until the Colonel's first
outburst of rage. He stood now, looking calmly down at the old
gentleman's flushed face, then stepped ou