by. I had a little headache."

"That's too bad," said Colonel Blount, and turned again to go. The
unspoken invitation of the other still restrained him. She leaned
against the door, soft-eyed, her white hand waving an effective fan,
an attractive, a seductive picture.

"Why don't you ever come in and sit down and talk to me for a
minute?" said she, at length. "I scarcely see you at all any more."

Blount gathered an uneasy hint of something, he knew not what; yet he
followed her back into the half-darkened room, and presently, seated
near her, and wrapped in his own enthusiasms, forgot all but the bear
chase, whose incidents he began eagerly to relate. His vis-a-vis sat
looking at him with eyes which took in fully the careless strength of
his tall and strong figure. For some time now her eyes had rested on
this same figure, this man who had to do with work and the chase,
with hardship and adventure, and never anything more gentle--this man
who could not see!

"You must be more careful," said Mrs. Ellison. "But still, you are
safely back, and I'm glad you had good luck."

"Well, I don't know what you would call good luck," said Blount. "The
fact is, I had a little trouble, coming in."

"Trouble? In what way?"

"Well, it happened this way," said he, with a quick glance about him.
"I don't like to mention such things, but I suppose you ought to