ting with
triumphant dignity to the fluttering rag.

"Yes, I see," said Franklin, "but what do you want of this piece of sack?"

"Sack!" cried Battersleigh, offended. "'Sack!' say you, but I say,
'White!' Look ye, the history of a man is something sacred. 'Sack!' say
you, but I say, 'White!' A strip of this at me neck and at me wrist; me
hat, an' me sabre and me ridin' whip--I r-ride up to the dure. I
dismount. I throw me rein to the man. I inter the hall and place me hat
and gloves in order as they should be. I appear--Battersleigh, a
gintleman, appears, standin' in the dure, the eyes of all upon him. I
bow, salutin', standin' there, alone, short on allowance, but nate and
with me own silf-respect. Battersleigh, a bit low in kit and in
allowance, with white at neck and wrist, bows, and he says, 'Ladies and
gintlemen, Battersleigh is here!'"

CHAPTER XIV

THE FIRST BALL AT ELLISVILLE

The wife of the section boss sat in conscious dignity, as became a
leader of society. She was gowned in purple, newly starched, and upon
her bosom rose and fell the cross that Jerry gave her long ago. Below
her in order of station came Nora, the head waiter, and the red-headed
waiter girl, and the littlest waiter girl, and the wife of the new
grocery man. These sat silent and unhappy at one part of the long row
of chairs that lined the side of the hall. Opposite to them, equally
silent and equally unhappy, sat a little row of men. Jerry, the
section boss, made no claim to social distinction. He was a simple,
plain, hard-working man, whose main concern was in his work, and whose
great pride was in the social triumphs of his wife. Jerry was short
and broad and sturdy, and his face was very, very red. Near to Jerry
sat the new grocery man, and Curly the cowboy, and Del Hickman, another
cowboy, and several other cowboys, and Sam, the stage-driver. They
were all silent and very miserable. The lights of the big hanging
kerosene lamps flickered and cast great shadows, showing the women all
with heads very high and backs straight and stiff, the men in various
attitudes of jellyfish, with heads hanging and feet screwed under their
chairs in search of moral support.

It was the beginning of the ball. These were the first arrivals. At
the head of the hall, far off, sat three musicians, negroes alleged to
play violins and an accordion, and by that merit raised to a bad
eminence. Gloomy, haughty, superior, these gaze