stirred him out of all proportion to any
assignable cause; she irritated him. He remembered that she said she made
men "mad." He recalled how ridiculous he had felt as he had said, "Good
night." He wished to repay her for that injury to his self-esteem.

At the same time, curiously, he was more patient with Lettice, he had a
more ready sympathy for her intangible fancies. Perhaps for the first time
he enjoyed sitting quietly on the porch of his house with her and General
Jackson. He sat answering her endless queries, fears, assenting
half-absently to her projections, with the thought of Meta Beggs at the
back of his mind. He wanted to be as nice as possible to Lettice. Suddenly
she seemed a little removed from him, from the world in general, the world
of the emotions and ideas that centered about the school-teacher.

Lettice was--superior; he recognized it pridefully. Behind her temporary,
rational vagaries there was a quality of steadfastness. It was clear to
him now from its contrast to his own devious mind. But he found a sharp
pleasure in the mental image of the Beggs woman. He recalled the burning
sensation that had lingered in his palm from the touch of her hand, the
pressure of her shoulder against his as they had drawn back from the
vision of those below.

He went early to the camp meeting on the Saturday appointed.

VIII

He drove over the road that lay at the base of the western range away from
his dwelling and Greenstream village. The mature spring day had almost the
appearance of summer; the valley was flooded with sparkling sunlight; but
the young leaves were still red, the greenery still translucent, the trees
black with risen sap. The buggy rolled through the shallow, rocky fords,
the horse's hoofs flinging up the water in shining drops. The road rose
slightly, turning to the right, where an intermediate valley lay
diagonally through the range. Save for small, scattered farms the
bottomland was uncultivated, the tangled brush impenetrable.

Gordon passed other vehicles, bound toward the camp meeting, usually a
single seat crowded with three, or even four, adult forms. He passed flat
wagons with their bottoms filled with straw, on which women sat with
stiffly-extended legs. The young women wore gay colors, their eyes
sparkled in hardy faces, their hands, broad and red and capable, awkwardly
disposed. The older women, with shawls folded about their stooped
shoulders, were close-lipped, somber.