es' bet on
it, I did; an' we tried it on,--you in the mahnin' and him in the
arternoon. An' laws, ef didn't so happen as how you'd a powerful flow
o' speech! 'Twuz 'mazin' edifyin', but 't los' me the bet, you
unnerstan'; an' onct los' I hed ter pay; an' not havin' ary chick o'
my own I had ter confiscate some from th' gineral public, an' I tuk
'em 'thout distinction o' party frum the handiest cyoop in the Baptis'
dernomination. I kin' o' hankered arter Baptis' chickuns, somehow,
so's ter git even, like. Now, Bishop, I jes' leaves ter you uns,
cyould I go back on a debt o' honah, like thet?"

"Honor!" repeated the Bishop, scornfully.

Talboys interposed again: "We appear to be sold, Bishop; don't you
think we had better get out of this before the hearse comes?"

Demming waved his hand at Talboys, saying in his smoothest tones, "Ef
you meet it, Cunnel, p'raps you'd kin'ly tell 'em ter go on ter Mose
Barnwell's. He's ready an' waitin'."

"Demming--" began the Bishop, but he did not finish the sentence;
instead, he lifted his hat to Mrs. Demming, with his habitual stately
courtesy, and moved in a slow and dignified manner to the carriage.
Louise followed, only stopping to say to the still weeping woman, "He
is in no danger from us; but this trick was a poor return for my
father's kindness."

Demming had been rubbing his right eyebrow obliquely with his hand,
thus making a shield behind which he winked at the coachman in a
friendly and humorous manner; at Louise's words, his hand fell and his
face changed quickly. "Don' say thet, miss," he said, a ring of real
emotion in his voice. "I know I'm purty po' pickings, but I ain't
ongrateful. Yo' par will remember I wyouldn't tek no money frum
_him_!"

"I would have given fifty dollars," cried the Bishop, "rather than
have had this--this scandalous fraud! Drive on!"

They drove away. The last they saw of Demming he was blandly waving
his hand.

The drive back from the house so unexpectedly disclosed as not a house
of mourning was somewhat silent. The Bishop was the first to speak. "I
shall insist upon returning every cent of that money," he said.

"I assure you none of us will take it," Talboys answered; "and really,
you know, the sell was quite worth the money."

"And you did see her, after all," said Louise dryly, "standing in the
doorway, with her old clay pipe in her mouth."

The Bishop smiled, but he sighed, too. "Well, well, I ought not to
have lost my temper