et, and they shall be respected. I
will tell him that out of respect to you he must stay away from here."

"That is very thoughtful, dear; but does it occur to you that your
continued intimacy with him, whether he comes here or not, will show a
want of respect for me?"

"You don't give a snap whether he pays his debts or not. You simply
don't want me to associate with him. No, it has not occurred to me that
I am not showing you proper respect and neither is it true. Margaret, do
you know what is the most absurd and insupportable tyranny that woman
can put upon man? It is to choose a companion for her husband."

"With me, dear, it is not tyranny; it is judgment."

"Oh, yes; or rather, it is the wonderful intuition which we are taught
to believe that woman possesses. I admit that she is quick to see evil
in a man, but she shuts her eyes to the good quality that stands
opposite to offset it."

"Oh, I know that I haven't shrewdness enough to discover a good trait; I
can recognize only the bad, for they are always clearly in view. It is a
wonder that you can respect so stupid a creature as I am, and I know
that you have ceased to have a deeper feeling for me."

"Now, Margaret, for gracious sake don't talk that way. Oh, of course
you've got me now, and I have to flop or be a brute. Yes, you've got me.
You know I respect your good sense and love you, so what's the use of
this wrangle. There, now, it's all right. I'll promise not to go near
him if you say so. And I have made up my mind to attend church with more
regularity. I acknowledge that I can go wrong oftener than almost any
man. Respect for you!" he suddenly broke out. "Why, you are the smartest
woman in this state, and everybody knows it. Come on out to the office
and sit with me."

Sometimes the Major, with a pretense of having business to call him away
at night, would go over to old Gid's house, and together they would
chuckle by the fire or nod over roasting potatoes. They talked of their
days on the river, and of their nights at Natchez under the hill. To be
wholly respectable, a man must give up many an enjoyment, but when at
last he has become virtuous, he fondly recounts the escapades of former
years; and thus the memory of hot blood quickens the feeble pulse of
age.

Sometimes old Gid would meet the Major at the gin house and joke with
him amid the dust and lint, but he always came and departed in a
roundabout way, so that Mrs. Cranceford, sitting at th