sister, don't you know, than his girl. Of course, it was hard lines for
me, but I suppose she was about right." He stopped, and then added with
a kind of gentle persistency: "YOU think she was about right, don't
you?"

With what was passing in Courtland's mind the question seemed so
bitterly ironical that at first he leaned half angrily forward, in an
unconscious attempt to catch the speaker's expression in the darkness.
"I should hardly venture to give an opinion," he said, after a pause.
"Miss Dows' relations with her neighbors are so very peculiar. And from
what you tell me of her cousin it would seem that her desire to placate
them is not always to be depended upon."

"I'm not finding fault with HER, you know," said Champney hastily. "I'm
not such a beastly cad as that; I wouldn't have spoken of my affairs at
all, but you asked, you know. I only thought, if she was going to get
herself into trouble on account of that Frenchman, you might talk to
her--she'd listen to you, because she'd know you only did it out of
business reasons. And they're really business reasons, you know. I
suppose you don't think much of my business capacity, colonel, and you
wouldn't go much on my judgment--especially now; but I've been here
longer than you and"--he lowered his voice slightly and dragged his
chair nearer Courtland--"I don't like the looks of things here. There's
some devilment plotting among those rascals. They're only awaiting an
opportunity; a single flash would be enough to set them in a blaze, even
if the fire wasn't lit and smouldering already like a spark in a bale of
cotton. I'd cut the whole thing and clear out if I didn't think it would
make it harder for Miss Dows, who would be left alone."

"You're a good fellow, Champney," said Courtland, laying his hand on