ley," answered McRae; "lives at Mink
Run, between here and Sycamore, you know."

"Oh, yes, I've seen him--the 'po' white' chap that lives with the old
lunatic that's always digging for buried treasure----

_'For my name was Captain Kidd,
As I sailed, as I sailed.'_

But let's hurry back, Tom, or we'll lose the next dance."

Fetters and his companion returned to the ball. The barkeeper called a
servant of the hotel, with whose aid, Ben was carried upstairs and put
to bed, bruised in body and damaged in reputation.

_Twenty-four_

Ben's fight with young Fetters became a matter of public comment the
next day after the ball. His conduct was cited as sad proof of the
degeneracy of a once fine old family. He had been considered shiftless
and not well educated, but no one had suspected that he was a drunkard
and a rowdy. Other young men in the town, high-spirited young fellows
with plenty of money, sometimes drank a little too much, and
occasionally, for a point of honour, gentlemen were obliged to attack
or defend themselves, but when they did, they used pistols, a
gentleman's weapon. Here, however, was an unprovoked and brutal attack
with fists, upon two gentlemen in evening dress and without weapons to
defend themselves, "one of them," said the _Anglo-Saxon_, "the son of
our distinguished fellow citizen and colleague in the legislature, the
Honourable William Fetters."

When Colonel French called to see Miss Laura, the afternoon of next
day after the ball, the ladies were much concerned about the affair.

"Oh, Henry," exclaimed Miss Laura, "what is this dreadful story about
Ben Dudley? They say he was drinking at the hotel, and became
intoxicated, and that when Barclay Fetters and Tom McRae went into the
hotel, he said something insulting about Graciella, and when they
rebuked him for his freedom he attacked them violently, and that when
finally subdued he was put to bed unconscious and disgracefully
intoxicated. Graciella is very angry, and we all feel ashamed enough
to sink into the ground. What can be the matter with Ben? He hasn't
been around lately, and he has quarrelled with Graciella. I never
would have expected anything like this from Ben."

"It came from his great-uncle Ralph," said Mrs. Treadwell. "Ralph was
very wild when he was young, but settled down into a very polished
gentleman. I danced with him once when he was drunk, and I never knew
it--it was my first ball, and I was intoxicat