black, deep-set, and luminous. He had a frank expression, which was marred, however, for the moment by a look of uneasiness and a shade of sadness.

     His companion was a fair sample of the young American of the present day. He was a trifle taller than his companion, well built, with brown hair and blue eyes, a dark mustache overhanging a well-cut mouth, erect in carriage, deliberate in his motions, his general appearance designating him to the casual observer as a “man of business.” You would naturally feel that he would be equal to any emergency—that his self possession would not be likely, even under trying circumstances, to desert him. Very different in this respect was he from his companion, who was plainly excitable, and whose total “make-up” suggested that he might not at all times be master of himself.

     The latter spoke:

     “I don’t know how my uncle will receive me, Leonard,” he said. “I almost tremble at going into his presence.”

     “Nonsense!” said the other. “I should not tremble at all. All you have to do is to tell your story, and then, if he doesn’t behave himself, quietly bid him good-day.”

     “Ah, I know that would be your way,” was the reply, “but I could not do it. He is my father’s brother.”

     “Yes, and a model brother, too. His course has entitled him to so much respect that I should think you would be considerate of his feelings.”

     The tone was impatient and ironical.

     “But I am here for reconciliation, you know. They have been like strangers so long—never holding any communication with each other—and on his dying bed my father enjoined me to go to him and tell him how it all came about—how Geoffrey Haywood produced, by his lies and misrepresentations, an estrangement between two brothers that had always been so fond of each other. They were both passionate, and neither would seek explanations. Haywood was cool and calculating, and knew how to approach both of them.”

     “And Haywood now lives in Dalton?”

     “Yes; he still keeps on the right side of Colonel Conrad, and, I suspect, owes all his prosperity to his influence and aid.”

     “When did your father discover that Haywood had been the means of the feud?”

     “Nearly a 

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