her folded hands on her work
and gazing through the open window.

Celia continued to sew without glancing up. Presently she said:

"I reckon I'll have to tell you something about Colonel Arran after
all. I've meant to for some time past. Because--because my
silence condemns him utterly; and that is not altogether just."
She bent lower over her work; her needle travelled more slowly as
she went on speaking:

"In my country, when a gentleman considers himse'f aggrieved, he
asks fo' that satisfaction which is due to a man of his
quality. . . . But Colonel Arran did not ask. And when it was
offered, he refused." Her lips curled. "He cited the _Law_,"
she said with infinite contempt.

"But Colonel Arran is not a Southerner," observed Ailsa quietly.
"You know how all Northerners feel----"

"It happened befo' you were born, Honey-bud. Even the No'th
recognised the code then."

"Is _that_ why you dislike Colonel Arran? Because he refused to
challenge or be challenged when the law of the land forbade private
murder?"

Celia's cheeks flushed deeply; she tightened her lips; then:

"The law is not made fo' those in whom the higher law is inherent,"
she said calmly. "It is made fo' po' whites and negroes."

"Celia!"

"It is true, Honey-bird. When a gentleman breaks the law that
makes him one, it is time fo' him to appeal to the lower law. And
Colonel Arran did so."

"What was his grievance?"

"A deep one, I reckon. He had the right on his side--and his own
law to defend it, and he refused. And the consequences were ve'y
dreadful."

"To--him?"

"To us all. . . . His punishment was certain."

"Was he punished?"

"Yes. Then, in his turn, _he_ punished--terribly. But not as a
gentleman should. Fo' in that code which gove'ns us, no man can
raise his hand against a woman. He must endure all things; he may
not defend himse'f at any woman's expense; he may not demand
justice at the expense of any woman. It is the privilege of his
caste to endure with dignity what cannot be remedied or revenged
except through the destruction of a woman. . . . And Colonel Arran
invoked the lower law; and the justice that was done him
destroyed--a woman."

She looked up steadily into Ailsa's eyes.

"She was only a young girl, Honey-bud--too young to marry anybody,
too inexperienced to know her own heart until it was too late.

"And Colonel Arran came; and he was ve'y splendid, and handsome,
and impressive in hi