It's almost as near Hades, sir, as they make it,--as I trust you and I, Mr.Corbin, will ever experience.

I propose," continued the Colonel, with airy geniality, "some light change and refreshment.

The bar-keeper of the Magnolia is--er--I may say, sir, facile princeps in the concoction of mint juleps, and there is a back room where I have occasionally conferred with political leaders at election time.

It is but a step, sir--in fact, on Main Street--round the corner." The stranger looked up and then rose mechanically as the Colonel resumed his coat and waistcoat, but not his collar and cravat, which lay limp and dejected among his papers.

Then, sheltering himself beneath a large-brimmed Panama hat, and hooking his cane on his arm, he led the way, fan in hand, into the road, tiptoeing in his tight, polished boots through the red, impalpable dust with his usual jaunty manner, yet not without a profane suggestion of burning ploughshares.