Miss
Woodville was before him, a plain, elderly figure in a plain black dress,
with a basket on her arm. The basket contained a fowl and some eggs
which she had just bought at a great price. When she saw Dick her hand
flew to her throat, but when the pulse ceased to beat so hard it came
away and she looked at him fixedly. Then a slow smile like the dawn
spread over the severe, worn face.
"Come in, Margaret, and put down your basket," said the colonel in a
genial tone. "Meanwhile bid welcome to our unexpected guest, a young man
of spirit and quality with whom I was holding converse before you came.
He does not wish to go out to-night, because there are many violent men
abroad, and he would avoid them."
Then he turned to Dick, and asked in a tone, sharp and commanding:
"I have your word, young sir, that your unexpected visit to our city was
not of a secret nature; that is, it was not of a lawless character?"
"An accident, sir, an accident pure and simple. I answer you on my
honor. I have seen nothing and I shall not seek to see anything which
I should not see.
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