"It is strange that Colonel Brand should be so dissatisfied with his laurels," she said, with cold scorn. "One would have thought that the reputation which he gained for bravery and intrepidity as a commander, would have slaked his thirst for fame. Perhaps you fear that the laurels of a whole army would not cover your deficiencies?"
She placed such unconscious emphasis on the "you," that the colonel turned his face upon her with broad attention.
She saw the startled eye, though it instantly wavered from hers, and she felt the lagging of his feet.
"Is there no possibility of trapping him out of his own mouth?" she thought, "Can I not force him to betray himself?"
Women are apt at resources; they cannot surmount great difficulties—their muscles are so soft, and their brains so repressed by convention and circumstance, but they can vault the slighter obstacles with lightning quickness, while the man's slower strength is culminating for the heights.
"I know but little of St. Udo Brand," pondered Margaret; "But I will traverse with this man every inch of the ground of which I am mistress, and if he is false, surely he must fall in something. Let me set the first trap."
"As we pass this lodge a certain association comes into my mind," she said, always with that cold scorn breaking through her enforced courtesy; "and now that I am honored by having you to refer to, I shall bring my difficulty for your solution.
"How was my dear Miss Brand choked by a parasite?"
The colonel stared blankly. An uneasy frown stole up to his forehead; once, twice, he opened his lips to speak, but checked himself and waited.
The silence became too threatening on the part of Margaret; she was forced to lead the next step,