Seite 38 von 416

He smiled mechanically, thanked her, and passed on while she

gazed after him, hurt and struck silent by the cold misery in his

face.

"I wonder," she said to herself slowly, "whether something

besides what I told him has happened to him to-night?"

CHAPTER IV

REFUGEES

It was almost one o'clock in the morning when Code went into the

parlor of his mother's cottage and sank down upon the ancient

plush sofa. His eyes ached, and the back of his head and neck,

where the fire had singed him, were throbbing painfully.

There was apparently no one at home.

Even little Josie, the orphan that helped his mother, seemed to

have been drawn out into the road by the excitement of the night,

and the house, except for a single lamp burning on the table, was

in darkness.