“Ah, you insult me, sir!” he hissed, as he danced on tiptoes in the attitude of a fencer, and drove me across the room. He stopped suddenly, his point on the floor, in a haughty pose, and demanded, “Will you have a blade, sir, and a bout with me?” “I do not know how to fence,” I said. “Ah--then you are forgiven,” said he, with a loving smile and a jaunty swing of his head. “But, mind you--mind you, I cannot brook an insult.” Before the light was extinguished he sent his voice roaring through the still house in two lines of _The Last Rose of Summer_. We got into bed, and as soon as I could decently do it I feigned sleep, to avoid conversation. I lay thinking for hours after the Colonel had gone to sleep--hours, indeed, of fearful expectation. It was awful to room with a man like Colonel Busby, but, after all, it was a good schooling in bravery, and the time had come when I must be brave. I longed for perils, and for even a wound or two. If there should be a war I would enlist, if possible, and show her how brave I could be. Perhaps, if I became very brave and good and strong and great, she would forgive my lack of size and beauty. In the midst of these reflections my companion lay groaning with nightmare, and this further thought came to me that, hard as it was to be his friend, it would be still more terrible to be Colonel Busby himself. To such a hopeful state of mind my last adventure had brought me. ADVENTURE IX.--WHICH DESCRIBES THE COERCION OF SAM AND HIS WEDDING JOURNEY [Illustration: 9107] O went the days and nights with us there in the home of Colonel Busby, and I am nearly through with them. One morning Jo said to me: “I'm sorry that father behaved so last night. It's dreadful. Did he hurt you?” “Not a bit,” was my answer. “You are as brave as you can be,” she went on, with a look of shame and sorrow. “It worries me terribly. Oh, dear! I wouldn't marry a man who drinks for all the money in the world.” “You'd need it to repair the furniture,” I suggested, full of a great joy that she thought me brave. Her eyes filled with tears, and I remember well the tender dignity with which I took her hand and tried to comfort her. It was a pretty picture, upon my word--the boy and the maiden, and both so clean-hearted. Well, now, as to Sam and the wedding. We invited a number of Fannie's friends, who were servants in the neighborhood, and made a monster cake and some ice-cream. Sam arrived early, red and uncomfortable, and looking very new in a fresh suit of clothes. His voice, even, was afraid to show itself, as one might say. He held it down near a whisper and had a watchful eye. Jo and a few of her school-girl friends had decorated the parlor, and spread a table in the dining-room with refreshments. Now they stood looking at Sam. His eyes filled with alarm as we laid our plans before him.