sis or event recognize an unexpected
interposition of Providence.

"Are you the boy who ran away from the florist's in Washington?"
I inquired when ready to speak. "The boy who delivered Miss Moore's
bridal bouquet?"

"Yes, sir."

I let go of his hand and sat down. Surely there was a power greater
than chance governing this matter. Through what devious ways and
from what unexpected sources had I come upon this knowledge?

"Mrs. Jeffrey, or Miss Moore, as she was then, told Jim to seat the
gentleman in the library," I now said. "Why?"

"I do not know. He told her the gentleman's name and then she
whispered him that. I heard her, and that was why I got money, too.
But it's all gone now. Oh, sir, when are you going back?"

I started to my feet. Was it in answer to this appeal or because
I realized that I had come at last upon a clue calling for immediate
action?

"I am going now," said I, "and you are going with me. Run! for
the train we take leaves inside of ten minutes. My business here
is over."

XX

"THE COLONEL'S OWN"

Words can not express the tediousness of that return journey. The
affair which occupied all my thoughts was as yet too much enveloped
in mystery for me to contemplate it with anything but an anxious
and inquiring mind. While I clung with new and persistent hope to
the thread which had been put in my hand, I was too conscious of
the maze through which we must yet pass, before the light could be
reached, to feel that lightness of spirit which in itself might
have lessened the hours, and made bearable those days of forced
inaction. To beguile the way a little, I made a complete analysis
of the facts as they appeared to me in the light of this latest bit
of evidence. The result was not strikingly encouraging, yet I will
insert it, if only in proof of my diligence and the extreme interest
I experienced in each and every stage of this perplexing affair. It
again took the form of a summary and read as follows:

Facts as they now appear:

1. The peremptory demand for an interview which had been delivered
to Miss Moore during the half-hour preceding her marriage had come,
not from the bridegroom as I had supposed, but from the so-called
stranger, Mr. Pfeiffer.

2. Her reply to this demand had been an order for that gentleman
to be seated in the library.

3. The messenger carrying this order had been met and earnestly
talked with by Mr. Jeffrey either immediately be