Once on the outside and the gate shut, Fitz's whole manner changed.
He became suddenly thoughtful, and did not speak until we reached the
tall clock tower with its full moon of a face shining high up against
the black winter night.

Then he stood still, looked out over the white street, dotted here and
there with belated wayfarers trudging home through the snow, and said
with a tremor in his voice which startled me:--

"I couldn't raise a dollar in a lunatic asylum full of millionaires
on a scheme like the colonel's, and yet I keep on lying to the dear
old fellow day after day, hoping that something will turn up by which
I can help him out."

"Then tell him so."

Fitz laid his hand on my shoulder, looked me straight in the face, and
said:--

"I cannot. It would break his heart."




CHAPTER III

_An Old Family Servant_


The colonel's front yard, while as quaint and old-fashioned as his