y cents, and both of us done well. He's after
more Stropine, and I got Pullman prices for my roosters, the buffet-car
being out of chicken a la Marengo. There is your razor, sir, and I
appreciate your courtesy." It was beautifully sharpened, and I bought
a box of the Stropine and asked him who the lady was. "Mrs. Porcher
Brewton!" he exclaimed. "Have you never met her socially? Why she--why
she is the most intellectual lady in Bee Bayou." "Indeed!" I said. "Why
she visits New Orleans, and Charleston, and all the principal centres of
refinement, and is welcomed in Washington. She converses freely with our
statesmen and is considered a queen of learning. Why she writes po'try,
sir, and is strong-minded. But a man wouldn't want to pick her up for a
fool, all the samey." "I shouldn't; I don't," said I. "Don't you do it,
sir. She's run her plantation all alone since the Colonel was killed in
sixty-two. She taught me Sunday-school when I was a lad, and she used to
catch me at her pecan-trees 'most every time in Bee Bayou."

He went forward, and I went back with the Stropine in my pocket. The
lady was sipping the last of the lemonade and looking haughtily over the
top of her glass into (I suppose) the world of her thoughts. Her eyes
met mine, however. "Has Gadsden--yes, I perceive he has been telling
about me," she said, in her languid, formidable voice. She set her glass
down and reclined among the folds of the bedroom curtains, considering
me. "Gadsden has always been lavish," she mused, caressingly. "He seems
destined to succeed in life," I hazarded. "ah n--a!" she sighed, with
decision. "He will fail." As she said no more and as I began to resent
the manner in which she surveyed me, I remarked, "You seem rather sure
of his failure." "I am old enough to be his mother, and yours," said
Mrs. Porcher Brewton among her curtains. "He is a noble-hearted fellow,
and would have been a high-souled Southern gentleman if born to
that station. But what should a conductor earning $103.50 a month be
dispersing his attention on silly patents for? Many's the time I've
told him what I think; but Gadsden will always be flighty." No further
observations occurring to me, I took up my necklace and bracelets from
the seat and put them in my pocket. "Will you permit a meddlesome old
woman to inquire what made you buy those cat's-eyes?" said Mrs. Brewton.
"Why--" I dubiously began. "Never mind," she cried, archly. "If you were
thinking of some one