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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
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