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Rh an easy-chair, propped up by hair pillows. The old tea-merchant was glad to see him.

"I am much better, thank you," he said in answer to Gilbert's query. "I seem to have come out of a bad dream."

"I am glad to see it," returned the young lieutenant. "You must take it easy for a while, though, both in body and in mind."

"My mind is easy, thanks to what the insurance companies have promised to do and what my wife has found out about the Richmond Importing Company. I presume she has told you of what Nuglich Polk tried to do."

"I will tell him later on, Amos," put in the wife. "But now you must rest." And she beckoned Gilbert from the room.

A long talk between Mrs. Bartlett, Jennie, and Gilbert followed; and the young lieutenant was shown the papers taken from Nuggy Polk, which he perused with keen interest. Then he told of the affair at the prison, but modestly refused to relate how much of a hero he had been.

"Somehow, I think Nuggy Polk will be a better fellow after this," he concluded. "He has been