I had therefore to cross the
room, and so caught a full view of the stranger's face. He was a sallow,
dark man, with iron grey hair cut close to his head, a hard mouth, a cold
grey eye, and a deep furrow between his brows. He wore a blue military
frock buttoned to the chin; and a plain cocked hat lay beside his gloves
upon the table.
I went into the dining-room and closed the door. It was half-door,
half-window, the upper panels being made of ground glass, so as to let in a
borrowed light; for the little room was at all times somewhat of the
darkest. Such as it was, this borrowed light was now all I had; for the
dining-room fire had gone out hours ago, and though there were candles on
the chimney-piece, I had no means of lighting them. So I groped my way to
the first chair I could find, and waited my father's summons.
"And if he had been shot, Colonel Bernhard, the State would have been well
rid of a troublesome burden."
It was all I had heard; but it was enough to set me thinking. "If he had
been shot".... If who had been shot? My fears answered that question but
too readily. Who, then, was this new-comer? Was he from Berlin? And if from
Berlin, what orders did he bring? A vague terror of coming evil fell upon
me.
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