"All right, Hippy," he said, "but don't go so far in your humility that you'll get the pins knocked out from under you. I didn't start to do that. Cheer up, you've got a soft spot somewhere. You'll be a saint yet and wear a crown with seven stars," and he gallantly escorted her to the staircase, admonishing her to tell no one the subject of their conversation. CHAPTER XVIII. A STEP IN ADVANCE. A week or two went by, and all who came within the circle of Mrs. Prymmer's influence noticed a change in her, although not one of her friends or relatives ascribed the change to its real cause. She was softened, humbled, and quiet, and Justin, in the midst of his perusal of the evening paper, would often hold it aside and look at her with a puzzled face. One day the enlightenment came, precipitated by an attack of nightmare on the part of Captain White. One hour after midnight the family was alarmed by a frantic screaming and a sound of running feet. Justin and his wife, Mary, and nervous and shrieking Mrs. Prymmer rushed to the doors of their respective bedrooms, and found the curious spectacle presented to them of a figure clad in white running, darting, leaping, kicking up its heels, and apparently trying to scale the wall of the lower hall. "Micah," called Justin, "what is the matter with you? Come back to bed." "He's in his bare feet," cried Mrs. Prymmer, tearfully, leaning over the banisters. "Go down to him, Justin. He'll catch his death of cold." As his relative showed no signs of abating his extraordinary gymnastic performances, Justin was obliged to go down, and the feminine portion of the family hurriedly retreated behind doors as the distracted man was led up-stairs. Justin found him trembling violently and dripping with perspiration. "What has got into you, Micah?" he said. "Nightmare, boy, nightmare," replied Captain White, sinking in a heap on his bed. "Haven't had such a thing since I was a boy, and used to dream every night that the devil had got me." "Was he after you to-night?" "No, boy, no," and Captain White laid his exhausted head on the pillow. "It was a nameless horror. I don't know what it was. Don't leave me for awhile." Justin had never before seen his composed relative in so disordered a state, and in quiet sympathy he sat down beside him. Captain White was silent for a long time, then he started up in bed and shook his fist at some invisible enemy. "I'm blest if I let this happen again." "What did you say, Micah?" inquired Justin. "Nothing, nothing," replied the elder man, evasively. "You can go now, I'll not fall asleep again. I've got some plans to lay for to-morrow." Justin thought no more of these plans until he was leaving the breakfast-table, when Captain White coolly observed that at eleven o'clock he was going to take the train for Bangor and he would like his cousin Hippolyta to go with him.