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 pillar partially hid them. But one of them was now in full sight and staring at him.

Philip nearly let fall his napkin. Those frank eyes of his met the now impudent dark ones of the "Mr. Hilliard" of Youngwood. As he looked at the man, asking himself if he were not deceived, "Mr. Hilliard" bowed politely to him, and then went on sipping his tea.

Philip told Gerald—a long time afterward—that once he had cut in two with his scythe a black snake coiled about a nest of unfledged cat-birds in a bush, evidently making up its mind which to devour first.

"I assure you the snake and that man looked exactly alike!" was Philip's comparison.