CHAPTER XXV
"ON TO PEKIN"
"I am very glad you came when you did," exclaimed Mrs. Bartlett, when Gilbert reappeared at the house. "If you had not come, I do not know what I should have done."
She spoke in a whisper, so that her husband might not be disturbed again. Jennie had gone to the sufferer, and administered a quieting draught; and he was now in a fitful doze.
"Had Polk been here long before I came?" asked the young lieutenant, in an equally low voice.
"At least half an hour. We tried by all means in our power to get rid of him; but he would not go, and at one time almost pushed his way into my husband's bed-chamber."
"I do not believe he will bother you again, at least not right away." And Gilbert told how he had threatened Nuggy Polk. "I imagine he is a coward at heart."
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