of his guest, made leading remarks, and even asked if he had seen
the splendid dwelling of Captain Allen. The handsome stranger held
him firmly at a distance. And not only on that day and evening, but
on the next day and the next. He was polite even to blandness, but
suffered no approach beyond the simplest formal intercourse. Every
morning he was seen going to Captain Allen's house, where he always
stayed several hours. The afternoons he spent, for the most part, in
his own room.

All this soon became noised throughout the town of S----, and there
was a little world of excitement, and all manner of conjectures, as
to who this Colonel Willoughby might be. The old nurse, of whom
mention has been made, presuming upon her professional acquaintance
with Mrs. Allen, took the liberty of calling in one afternoon, when,
to her certain knowledge, the stranger was in the house. She was,
however, disappointed in seeing him. The servant who admitted her
showed her into a small reception-room, on the opposite side of the
hall from the main parlor, and here Mrs. Allen met her. She was
"very sweet to her"--to use her own words--sweet, and kind, and
gentle as ever. But she looked paler than usual, and did not seem to
be at ease.

The nurse reported that something was going wrong; but, as to its
exact nature, she was in the dark. It certainly didn't look right
for Mrs. Allen to be receiving daily the visits of an elegant
looking stranger, and her husband away. There was only one opinion
on this head.

And so it went on from day to day for nearly a week--Colonel
Willoughby, as he had called himself, spending the greater part of