“Too much of a good thing. I feel like the poor devil who was undecided which girl to marry, and who in his dilemma sung: 'How happy could I be with either, were t’ other dear charmer away.’ I’ve got my hand on one party, and the other is at the Sherman House. If I leave one I may lose both, and a bird in the hand’s worth two in the bush.” John is the coolest, most unconcerned man in the house. He actually laughs. “Poor colonel!” he says. “Perfectly heartless! Young man, what am I to do under these distressing circumstances?” “Oh! I’ll accompany you to the Sherman. Perhaps Jack will break down and confess the truth when he sees me. We can get out without attracting attention, I reckon.” “Oh! brother John!” A rap comes on the door, which Aleck opens. “Beg pardon--is Colonel Bob Rocket in here?” asks the colored door-keeper. “On deck, parson. Has _it_ come?” demands that worthy. “De messenger boy, sah.” Rocket snatches the envelope and tears it open. Then he says something under his breath. “Mr. Cereal, this explains it--John Atherton, pardon my bothering you, and kick this ass who signs himself 'Jim,’ when you see him again, for sending me the wrong picture. Gentlemen--ladies--adieu. Duty calls me from this realm of bliss--believe me, only that could tear Bob Rocket away so near supper time. To the Sherman, then, and Happy Jack! Again I say, _au revoir!_” CHAPTER XXII. HAPPY JACK! Thus he bows himself out, this strange Sheriff Bob. For once at least he has made a serious blunder, and almost precipitated a most unseemly disturbance. No wonder he is wrathy over the blunder of the Denver clerk who could so carelessly send a photograph without examining it, and almost cause the arrest of his own employer. After he has gone the little party in the library draw together again. John is good-natured, as he can well afford to be. Conscious of his innocence, he has at no time felt anything beyond mere annoyance. As for Aleck, he has a feeling of positive relief that amounts to delight. The heaviness of spirits is gone. Not only is John what he has professed to be, but the load that has weighed the old speculator down is gone. Dorothy smiles through her tears, Dorothy is happy, and this raises the mercury of Aleck’s thermometer several degrees. Samson Cereal is quickly becoming his old self, though perhaps an inquiring eye might discover that something has occurred to upset the usually stern and self-possessed king of the wheat pit. The dramatic scene has shifted the setting of the stage, and the actors too appear to have a different look. Instead of tears and woe there are smiles and rejoicing. No one misses Colonel Bob, since his mission was to uphold the majesty of the law, and they can put him away from their minds without trouble.