t were. If I don't sell it, some blamed Yankee'll jump in and
gallop around with it. And I tell you what, gener'l, betwixt you and me
and the gate-post, it's done come to that pass where a man can't afford
to be too plegged particular; if he stops for to scratch his head and
consider whether he's a gentleman, some other feller'll jump in and
snatch the rations right out of his mouth. That's why I'm a-paradin'
around tryin' to sell this book."

"Well," said General Garwood in an encouraging tone, "I have no doubt it
is a very interesting book. I have heard of it before. Fetch me a copy
when you come to Azalia again."

Goolsby smiled an unctuous and knowing smile. "Maybe you think I ain't
a-comin'," he exclaimed, with the air of a man who has invented a joke
that he relishes. "Well, sir, you're getting the wrong measure. I was
down in 'Zalia Monday was a week, and I'm a-goin' down week after next.
Fact is," continued Goolsby, rather sheepishly, "'Zalia is a mighty nice
place. Gener'l, do you happen to know Miss Louisa Hornsby? Of course you
do! Well, sir, you might go a week's journey in the wildwood, as the
poet says, and not find a handsomer gal then that. She's got style from
away back."

"Why, yes!" exclaimed the general in a tone of hearty congratulation,
"of course I know Miss Lou. She is a most excellent young lady. And so
the wind sits in that quarter? Your blushes, Goolsby, are a happy
confirmation of many sweet and piquant rumors."

Goolsby appeared to be very much embarrassed. He moved about uneasily in
his seat, searched in all his pockets for something or other that wasn't
there, and made a vain effort to protest. He grew violently red in the
face, and the color gleamed through his closely cropped hair.

"Oh, come now, gener'l!" he exclaimed. "Oh, pshaw! Why--oh, go 'way!"

His embarrassment was so great, and seemed to border so closely on
epilepsy, that the general was induced to offer him a cigar and invite
him into the smoking apartment. As General Garwood and Goolsby passed
out, Helen Eustis drew a long breath.

"It is worth the trouble of a long journey to behold such a spectacle,"
she declared. Her aunt regarded her curiously. "Who would have thought
it?" she went on--"a Southern secessionist charged with affability, and
a book-agent radiant with embarrassment!"

"He is a coarse, ridiculous creature," said Miss Tewksbury sharply.

"The affable general, Aunt Harriet?"

"No, child; the other."