Every morning he was seen going to Captain Allen's house, where he always stayed several hours.

The afternoons he spent, for the most part, in his own room.
All this soon became noised throughout the town of S----, and there was a little world of excitement, and all manner of conjectures, as to who this Colonel Willoughby might be.

The old nurse, of whom mention has been made, presuming upon her professional acquaintance with Mrs.Allen, took the liberty of calling in one afternoon, when, to her certain knowledge, the stranger was in the house.

She was, however, disappointed in seeing him.

The servant who admitted her showed her into a small reception-room, on the opposite side of the hall from the main parlor, and here Mrs.Allen met her.