"No," he muttered thoughtfully, drawing back within the hall; "'tis far
more fit that such formal greeting should occur within, where the
essentials may be found with which to do full courtesy. I will instead
retire. Sam, bid the gentleman meet me in the banquet hall, and then,
mark you, thou archfiend of blackness, seek out at once that man
Hawkins in his hidden lair, and bid him have ample repast spread
instantly, on pain of my displeasure. By all the saints! if it be not
at once forthcoming I will toast the scoundrel over his own slow fire."

"Seth," I said to my staring companion, as soon as I could recover from
my own surprise, "find a place for the horses somewhere in the stables,
and come in."

"Where is your master to be found?" I questioned of the black, whose
air of self-importance had been resumed the moment he was left alone.

"Second door to de right, sah," he answered, gazing curiously at my
deerskin hunting-shirt as I pressed by.

I had little difficulty in finding it, for all that the way was totally
dark, as the fellow within was lustily carolling a French love-song. I
hung back for a moment, striving vainly to distinguish the words.

Without pausing to make my presence known, I opened the door quietly,
and stepped within. The room was not a large one, though it occupied
the full width of the house; and the two lighted candles that illumined
it, one sitting upon a table otherwise bare, the other occupying the
rude dresser in the far corner, revealed clearly the entire interior.

The sole occupant of the room sat upon a corner of the table, one foot