I turned my head and glanced over my shoulder, when, to my surprise, I saw a light glimmering through the window. What was its origin? The house was certainly uninhabited, even by the dead—for Mordaunt had informed me that a detail had, that morning, buried the corpse.
There was but one means of solving the mystery, and I leaped the fence, riding straight toward the house; soon reaching it, I dismounted and threw open the door.
What should greet my eyes, but the respectable figure of Mr. Nighthawk, seated before a cheerful blaze, and calmly smoking his pipe!
XXV. — THE APPOINTMENT.
As I entered, Mr. Nighthawk rose politely, without exhibiting the least mark of astonishment.
“Good evening, colonel,” he said, smiling, “I am glad to see you.”
“And I, never more surprised to see any one than you, here, Nighthawk!”
“Why so, colonel?”