VI
NOVEMBER came, that sunny autumn month in lower Virginia, when the changing woods glow in the mellow light, and a rich, blue haze envelops the rolling uplands; when the earth lies calm and soft, wrapped in the golden brightness of the day, or the cloudless splendor of the moonlit night. The chirp of the partridge was heard abroad in the land, and that was the sign for Farebrother’s arrival. An excursion down to Virginia after partridges concealed a purpose on his part toward higher game and a more exciting pursuit.
One day, though, two or three weeks before Farebrother’s arrival, the Colonel received a marked copy of a newspaper. It contained the notice of the collapse of a bank in New York, in which the Farebrother family were large stockholders.
Then came a letter from Farebrother
