the Devil of his bargain, the Earth,
which is to be his when all the boughs are bare.

Her whole soul was filled with a longing to help Bob Morgan,--Bob, her
dear old playfellow, so lovable and, alas! so weak. Already she had
tried to foster his self-respect and to encourage his firmness by
indirect means. It seemed now as if the chance were given her to act
more openly. If only she could do so without rousing in the boy's
breast a hope that she could not fulfil, for she knew that never could
she love him as he wanted to be loved!

It was not that a difference of birth, of rearing, of tradition placed
her apart from him. She even had a fondness for him, but love--no!

She had been thinking a great deal about love of late. She knew what it
was to have men in love with her. Her grandmother, with whom she lived
at fine old Oakwood, had introduced her in Baltimore, where she revived
many old-time connections; and she had had another season in New
Orleans. Her striking beauty had brought her a success that pleased
Mrs. Carroll more than Sydney herself. The haughty old lady approved
the girl's coldness, and nodded in agreement with Aunt Frony, who
watched her young mistress's path with proprietary satisfaction.

"She cert'nly do favor her paw; 'n she walks along tru all dem
gen'lemen like Joseph tru dat co'nfiel' wif de sheaves a-bowin' befo'
him, 'n he never pay no mo' 'tention to 'em 'n if dey jus' common
roughness--'n no mo' do she!"

"My son's daughter demeans herself as one of her family should," had
been Mrs. Carroll's reply; but she was really gratified at this
aloofness that seemed to excite the attention which she felt to be her
granddaughter's due, without inducing a surrender of her heart.
Sydney's marriage would take from her her only companion, and was an
evil that the old lady recognized as necessary, but to be put off as
long as possible.

Sydney regarded the various love-affairs in which she had had a part as
the usual incidents in every woman's career. They had touched her
little. She was extraordinarily lacking in conceit, and she could not
realize, since her sympathy was unquickened by a responsive affection,
that a love of short growth could mean much to its possessor. This lack
of appreciation of love's intensity was increased by the fact that her
own simplicity of thought and straightforwardness of character always
had prevented her from taking seriously any man's attentions until they
resolved th