In their long talks together he displayed an intimate acquaintance with men and affairs, but never referred in any way to his former life. "Are you really a colonel?" Mary Louise once asked him. "Men call me so," he replied, but there was a tone in his voice that warned the girl not to pursue the subject further. She knew his moods almost as well as her mother did. The Colonel was very particular as to dress. He obtained his own clothing from a New York tailor and took a keen interest in the gowns of his daughter and of Mary Louise, his taste in female apparel being so remarkable that they were justly considered the best dressed women in Beverly. The house they were living in contained an excellent library and was furnished in a quaint, old-fashioned manner that was very appealing to them all. Mary Louise sincerely hoped there would be no more changes in their lives and that they might continue to live in Beverly for many years to come. CHAPTER III A SURPRISE On the afternoon when our story begins Mary Louise walked home from school and found Colonel Weatherby waiting for her in the garden, leggings strapped to his gaunt legs, the checked walking-cap on his head, a gold-headed crop in his hand. "Let us go for a walk, my dear," he proposed. "It is Friday, so you will have all day to-morrow in which to get your lessons." "Oh, it won't take all day for that," she replied with a laugh. "I'll be glad of the walk. "Where shall we go, Gran'pa Jim?" "Perhaps to the mill-race. We haven't visited it for a long time." She ran to the house to put away her books and get her stout shoes, and presently rejoined him, when together they strolled up the street and circled round the little town until they came to the river bank. Then they followed the stream toward the old mill. Mary Louise told her grandfather of the recent edict of Miss Stearne and the indignation it had aroused in her girl boarders. "And what do you think of it, Gran'pa Jim?" she asked in conclusion.