The foreboding that their mellow days in the pleasant little city were over, was gone, but it was destined to come again.

Now, after the dinner was finished, and the great table was cleared away, they sat and talked, some in the dining room and some in the library.
It was still raining, that cold rain which at times turns for a moment or two to snow, and it dashed in gusts against the window panes.

Harry was with some of the younger people in the library, where they were playing at games.

The sport lagged presently and he went to a window, where he stood between the curtain and the glass.
He saw the outside dimly, the drenched lawn, and the trees beyond, under which two or three sentinels, wrapped closely in heavy coats, walked to and fro.

He gazed at them idly, and then a shadow passed between him and them.