Hampton was clothed in black, standing straight as an arrow, his shoulders squared, his head held proudly erect, while his cool gray eyes studied the face of the other as he had been accustomed to survey his opponents at the card-table.

Brant looked the picture of a soldier on duty, trim, well built, erect, his resolute blue eyes never flinching from the steady gaze bent upon ham, his bronzed young face grave from the seriousness of his mission.

Neither was a man to temporize, to mince words, or to withhold blows; yet each instinctively felt that this was an occasion rather for self-restraint.
In both minds the same thought lingered--the vague wonder how much the other knew.

The elder man, however, retained the better self-control, and was first to break the silence.
"Miss Gillis informed me of your kindness to her last evening," he said, quietly, "and in her behalf I sincerely thank you.

Permit me to offer you a chair." Brant accepted it, and sat down, feeling the calm tone of proprietorship in the words of the other as if they had been a blow.
His face flushed, yet he spoke firmly.