No, sir; he ain't never let her know."

"By the way, Taylor," asked the colonel, "how do _you_ know all this?"

"Well, sir," replied the teacher, with something which, in an
uneducated Negro would have been a very pronounced chuckle, "there's
mighty little goin' on roun' here that I _don't_ find out, sooner or
later."

"Taylor," said the colonel, rising to terminate the interview, "you
have rendered a public service, have proved yourself a good citizen,
and have relieved Mr. Dudley of serious embarrassment. I will see that
steps are taken to apprehend Johnson, and will keep your participation
in the matter secret, since you think it would hurt your influence
with your people. And I promise you faithfully that every effort shall
be made to see that Johnson has a fair trial and no more than a just
punishment."

He gave the Negro his hand.

"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir," replied the teacher, returning the
colonel's clasp. "If there were more white men like you, the coloured
folks would have no more trouble."

The colonel let Taylor out, and watched him as he looked cautiously up
and down the street to see that he was not observed. That coloured
folks, or any other kind, should ever cease to have trouble, was a
vain imagining. But the teacher had made a well-founded complaint of
injustice which ought to be capable of correction; and he had
performed a public-spirited action, even though he had felt
constrained to do it in a clandestine manner.

About his own part in the affair the colonel was troubled. It was
becoming clear to him that the task he had undertaken was no light
one--not the task of apprehending Johnson and clearing Dudley, but
that of leavening the inert mass of Clarendon with the leaven of
enlightenment. With the best of intentions, and hoping to save a life,
he had connived at turning a murderer loose upon the community. It was
true that the community, through unjust laws, had made him a murderer,
but it was no part of the colonel's plan to foster or promote evil
passions, or to help the victims of the law to make reprisals. His aim
was to bring about, by better laws and more liberal ideas, peace,
harmony, and universal good will. There was a colossal work for him to
do, and for all whom he could enlist with him in this cause. The very
standards of right and wrong had been confused by the race issue, and
must be set right by the patient appeal to reason and humanity.
Primitive passions and privat