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 active interest in the accident early in the day, there was a constant curiosity manifested about them.

Bennet had been followed and watched as he left the hotel for his walk and Dr. Tansey had been trailed. By some ties of neighborliness born of years of mingling communities are drawn together. Where each knows the other for miles around the presence of a stranger is signalled from house to house and native to native. Such was the case upon the arrival of Bennet and Dr. Tansey. The people of Charleston as in most southern communities guard their traditions, mannerisms, hobbies and oddities religiously. If you are prepared to join with them in their beliefs and practices you are welcomed. If you differ with them and differ positively you are marked and left to complete isolation.

There were a dozen or more men grouped about the veranda when Dr. Tansey and Bennet finished their meal and joined the assembly, taking seats at one side. All turned in their seats, to watch the two men, as they walked over to a corner of the veranda and took vacant seats preparatory to viewing the promenade of those on the street a floor below. Dr. Tansey was indulging in his cigar while Bennet was silent, his mind intent on Lida and his home.

After the two men had been seated long enough for the cigar Dr. Tansey was quietly smoking to be nearly consumed, the natives who had been sitting about grew restless because of their silence On the veranda were men ranging from young to middle age, tall and wiry, for the