n the invalid, with the same
evident suppression in his voice.

"Of course not!" was the answer. "You know me, Richard, I hope, and know
that I would not have lost a chance of saying anything in your favor--"

"Trust _you_ for _that_!" was the mental comment of the listener.
"Wouldn't _you_ glorify _him_! Wouldn't _you_ make him blue and gold,
with gilt edges! I see you doing it!"

"--If I had any opportunity," concluded the Colonel.

"I should think not," said the invalid, his words so forced from between
his teeth that his interlocutor, had he been less absorbed in his own
calculations, must have noticed the difference from his usual manner.

"Richard Crawford, you are beginning to wake, for you know that man is
lying--I see it by your eyes!" was the comment of the young girl, this
time.

"I am going to West Falls again in a few days--that is, if we do not get
orders for Washington," continued the Colonel; "and if I have your
permission--as you are not likely to be well enough to go out even by
that time--I shall speak to both on the subject, as it would be the
world's pity if you should be thrown out of so fine a property and the
possession of a girl who I believe once loved you, by false reports,
or--"

"False reports? eh? who should have circulated false reports?" asked the
invalid, his face firing for a moment and his voice temporarily under
less command. But the momentary flush passed away, and it was only with
the querulous voice and petulant manner of sickness that he concluded:
"Eh, well, no matter; we will see about all that by-and-by, when I get
well."

"That is right--I am glad to hear you speak so hopefully," said the
Colonel. "All will be right, no doubt, when you _get well_." Did he or
did he not lay a peculiar stress on the two words, as the old jokers
used to do on a few others when they informed the boys that the statue
of St. Paul, in the niche in the front of St. Paul's church, always came
down and took a drink of water from the nearest pump, _when it heard the
clock strike twelve_? If there was such an emphasis, did Richard
Crawford hear and recognize it? That some one else in the immediate
vicinity did, and duly commented upon it, is beyond a question.

"You must modulate your voice better than that, Colonel Egbert Crawford,
before you go on the stage!" said the wild girl. "You think he is
dying--you mean he shall die--I have an impression that I did not come
here for nothing, after all