olonel Fane, and a great many of their first and second
cousins were at the station the morning the Bensons and King and
Forbes departed for the North. The gallant colonel was foremost in his
expressions of regret, and if he had been the proprietor of Virginia,
and of the entire South added thereto, and had been anxious to close
out the whole lot on favorable terms to the purchaser, he would not
have exhibited greater solicitude as to the impression the visitors had
received. This solicitude was, however, wholly in his manner--and it is
the traditional-manner that has nearly passed away--for underneath all
this humility it was plain to be seen that the South had conferred a
great favor, sir, upon these persons by a recognition of their merits.

"I am not come to give you good-by, but au revoir," said Mrs. Farquhar
to Stanhope and Irene, who were standing apart. "I hate to go North
in the summer, it is so hot and crowded and snobbish, but I dare say I
shall meet you somewhere, for I confess I don't like to lose sight of so
much happiness. No, no, Miss Benson, you need not thank me, even with a
blush; I am not responsible for this state of things. I did all I could
to warn you, and I tell you now that my sympathy is with Mr. Meigs,
who never did either of you any harm, and I think has been very badly
treated."

"I don't know any one, Mrs. Farquhar, who is so capable of repairing his
injuries as yourself," said King.

"Thank you; I'm not used to such delicate elephantine compliments. It
is just like a man, Miss Benson, to try to kill two birds with one
stone--get rid of a rival by sacrificing a useless friend. All the same,
au revoir."

"We shall be glad to see you," replied Irene, "you know that, wherever
we are; and we will try to make the North tolerable for you."

"Oh, I shall hide my pride and go. If you were not all so rich up there!
Not that I object to wealth; I enjoy it. I think I shall take to that
old prayer: 'May my lot be with the rich in this world, and with the
South in the next!'"

I suppose there never was such a journey as that from the White Sulphur
to New York. If the Virginia scenery had seemed to King beautiful when
he came down, it was now transcendently lovely. He raved about it, when
I saw him afterwards--the Blue Ridge, the wheat valleys, the commercial
advantages, the mineral resources of the State, the grand old
traditional Heaven knows what of the Old Dominion; as to details he was
obscu