he man she was with at that place was sure to be her husband,
and who should that be but Walter, whom she loved?"

Then the servants looked anxiously at their master to see how he took
this startling revelation. Well, the Colonel stood firm as if he was at
the head of a column in the field. He was not the man to retreat from any
position, he said, "All we have to do is to save her; then my house and
arms are open to my son's wife."

"God bless you, father!" cried Walter, in a broken voice; "and God
bless you, dear cousin. Yes, it's no time for words." And he was gone
in a moment.

"Now Milton," said the Colonel, "he won't sleep here till the work is
done, and he won't sleep at all if we don't get a bed for him near the
mine. You order the break out, and go to the Dun Cow and do what you
can for him."

"That I will, sir; I'll take his own sheets and bedding with me. I won't
trust that woman--she talks too much; and, if you please, sir, I'll stay
there a day or two myself, for maybe I shall coax him to eat a morsel of
my cooking, and to lie down a bit, when he would not listen to a
stranger."

"You're a faithful creature," said the Colonel, rather aggressively, not
choosing to break down, "so are you, John; and it is at these moments we
find out our friends in the house; and, confound you, I forbid you both
to snivel," said he, still louder. Then, more gravely, "How do we know?
many a stormy day ends well; this calamity may bring happiness and peace
to a divided house."

Colonel Clifford prophesied right. Walter took the lead of a working gang
and worked night and day, resting two hours only in the twenty-four, and
even that with great reluctance. Outside the scene was one of bustle and
animation. Little white tents, for the strange workmen to sleep in,
dotted the green, and two snowy refreshment tents were pitched outside
the Dun Cow. That establishment had large brick ovens and boilers, and
the landlady, and the women she had got to help her, kept the tables
always groaning under solid fare that never once flagged, being under the
charge of that old campaigner, Colonel Clifford. The landlady tried to
look sad at the occasion which called forth her energy and talents; but
she was a woman of business, and her complacency oozed through her. Ah,
it was not so at the pit mouth; the poor wives whose husbands were
entombed below, alive or dead, hovered and fluttered about the two shafts
with their aprons to their eyes,