!"

"And now," said the Colonel, rising, and taking out his watch, "I must
leave you. We have a recruiting meeting at ---- Hall at six, and I must
be there without fail. Oh," as if suddenly recollecting something
comparatively unimportant, that had been overlooked in the pressure of
more interesting matter--"I had nearly forgotten. Your bandage--is it
all right? I hope the Doctor and Bell have not found out the secret, so
as to laugh at what they would call our _superstition_. Shall I renew
it? I believe I have some of the preparation in one or another of my
pockets," feeling in one and then another, as if doubtful. "Ah, here it
is," and he took out from one of his pockets which he had hurriedly gone
over with his hands at least half a dozen of times, a small black box,
four or five inches in length and perhaps two in width by an inch deep.

Were Josephine Harris' eyes playing fantastic tricks with her on that
occasion; or did she see, as that little black box met the view, a
momentary repetition of the suffering spasm which had crossed the face
of Richard Crawford half an hour before, when she first suggested a
conflict of interests between them? At all events the spasm, if such it
was, passed away, and he merely answered, languidly:

"Yes, thank you, Egbert--yes, if you please."

At this stage of the proceedings, had Josephine Harris been a "real
lady," or had she possessed any well-defined sense of "propriety," she
would have left her post of observation on the instant. For though the
Colonel was partially between her and the patient, she saw him open the
little black box, take out a broad knife from his vest pocket, and then
proceed to other operations very improper for a young lady to witness.
She saw Richard Crawford unbutton his vest, a little assisted by the
Colonel. What followed she could not see, very fortunately. All that she
could make out, was that some sort of narrow white bandage seemed to
have been removed from the breast or stomach of the invalid--that the
Colonel took out a dark paste from the box with his knife, spread a
portion of it on the opened bandage, then re-folded it and assisted in
replacing it on the breast or stomach and re-arranging the disordered
clothing. This done, and the box put back into his pocket, he took his
cap and stooped down to shake hands with Richard; whereupon Josephine,
knowing that his way out would be through the parlor, shoved the two
doors together by a silent but