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R. ROMAINE had certainly succeeded perfectly in a pastime dear to his heart—setting everybody by the ears. Colonel Corbin was deeply offended with him, and made no secret of it.

"For, if the time should come," he said, with dignity, to Letty and Miss Jemima, "that Romaine's relations may accuse us of playing upon Romaine and getting his money out of him, I desire to be able to prove that we were not on terms with him. Therefore, I shall only treat him with the merest civility. I shall certainly not go to Shrewsbury, and I trust he will not come to Corbin Hall."

Futile hope! Mr. Romaine came twice as often as he had ever done before, and the Colonel and Letty found it practically impossible to freeze him out. Meanwhile, another complication came upon Letty, who seemed destined to suffer all sorts of pains and penal-