ear. To crown all, a red carnation flamed away on the lapel of his
jacket, just above an outside pocket, which held in check a pair of
white cotton gloves bulging with importance and eager for use. Every
time he bowed he touched with a sweep both sides of the narrow hall.

It was the first time in some weeks that I had seen the interior of
the colonel's cozy dining-room by daylight. Of late my visits had been
made after dark, with drawn curtains, lighted candles, and roaring
wood fires. But this time it was in the morning,--and a bright, sunny,
lovely spring morning at that,--with one window open in the L and the
curtains drawn back from the other; with the honeysuckle beginning to
bud, its long runners twisting themselves inquiringly through the
half-closed shutters as if anxious to discover what all this bustle
inside was about.

It was easy to see that some other touch besides that of the colonel
and his faithful man-of-all-work had left its impress in the bachelor
apartment. There was a general air of order apparent. The irregular
line of foot gear which decorated the washboard of one wall, beginning
with a pair of worsted slippers and ending with a wooden bootjack, was
gone. Whisk-brooms and dusters that had never known a restful nail
since they entered the colonel's service were now suspended peacefully
on convenient hooks. Dainty white curtains, gathered like a child's
frock, flapped lazily against the broken green blinds, while some
sprays of arbutus, plucked by Miss Nancy on her way to the railroad
station, drooped about a tall glass on the mantel.

Chad had solved the mystery,--Aunt Nancy came yesterday.

I found the table set for four, its chief feature being a tray bearing