face was turned
to the lake, and between it and the water lay a walled forecourt, the
angle on each side of the entrance protected by a tower of an older
date than the house. The entrance was somewhat pretentious, and
might--for each of the pillars supported a heraldic beast--have seemed
to an English eye out of character with the thatched roof. But, as if
to correct this, one of the beasts was headless, and one of the gates
had fallen from its hinges. In like manner the dignity of a tolerably
spacious garden, laid out beside the house, was marred by the proximity
of the fold-yard, which had also trespassed, in the shape of sundry
offices and hovels, on the forecourt.

On the lower side of the road opposite the gates half a dozen stone
steps, that like the heraldic pillars might have graced a more stately
mansion, led down to the water. They formed a resting-place for as many
beggars, engaged in drawing at empty pipes; while twice as many old
women sat against the wall of the forecourt and, with their drugget
cloaks about them, kept up a continual whine. Among these, turning
herself now to one, now to another, moved the girl whom the Colonel had
seen at the landing-place. She held her riding-skirt uplifted in one
hand, her whip in the other, and she was bare-headed. At her elbow,
whistling idly, and tapping his boots with a switch, lounged the big
man of the morning.

As the Colonel approached, taking these things in with his eyes, and
making, Heaven knows what comparisons in his mind, the man and the maid
turned and looked at him. The two exchanged some sentences, and the man
came forward to meet him.

"Sir," he said, not without a touch of rough courtesy, "if it is for
hospitality you have come, you will be welcome at Morristown. But if it
is to start a cry about this morning's business, you've travelled on
your ten toes to no purpose, and so I warn you."

The Colonel looked at him. "Cousin Ulick," he said, "I take your
welcome as it is meant, and I thank you for it."

The big man's mouth opened wide. "By the Holy Cross!" he said, "if I'm
not thinking it is John Sullivan!"

"It is," the Colonel answered, smiling. And he held out his hand.

Uncle Ulick grasped it impulsively. "And it's I'm the one that's glad
to see you," he said. "By Heaven, I am! Though I didn't expect you, no
more than I expected myself! And, faith," he continued, grinning as if
he began to see something humorous as well as surprising in the