ried to do that. But what's the
use of this talk. I can sum up the whole situation by reminding you that
I am the master. There, now, don't sigh--don't look so worried."

"But, John, it grieves me to hear you say that you need him."

"Had to step back to pick that up, didn't you? Tom, after you're married
you'll find that your wife will look with coldness or contempt upon your
most intimate friend. It's the absurdest jealousy in woman's nature."

"Thomas," said his mother, "you will find nothing of the sort; but I'll
tell you what you may expect from the right sort of a wife--contempt for
a coarse, low-bred fellow, should you insist upon holding him as your
closest companion."

"Mother," Louise spoke up, "I think you are too severe. Mr. Batts is
hemmed in with faults, but he has many good points. And I can
understand why he is necessary to father. I am fond of him, and I am
almost ready to declare that at times he is almost necessary to me. No,
I won't make it as strong as that, but I must say that at times it is a
keen pleasure to jower with him."

"To do what?" Mrs. Cranceford asked. "Jower with him? Where did you get
that word?"

"It's one of his, picked up from among the negroes, I think, and it
means more than dispute or wrangle. We jower at times--quarrel a little
more than half in earnest."

"Well," said the mother, "perhaps I ought not to say anything, but I
can't help it when I am so often hurt by that man's influence. Why, last
Sunday afternoon your father left the rector sitting here and went away
with that old sinner, and we heard them haw-hawing over in the woods.
But I won't say any more."

"You never do, Margaret," the Major replied, winking at Louise. "But let
us drop him. So you saw Mayo, eh?" he added, turning to Tom.

"Yes, sir, and I understand that he is coming back down here to prove to
the negroes that we are cheating them out of their earnings."

The Major tossed a cigar to Tom, lighted one, and had begun to talk with
a rhetorical and sententious balancing of periods--which, to his mind,
full of the oratory of Prentiss, was the essence of impressiveness--when
a negro woman entered the room. And hereupon he changed the subject.

When bedtime came the old gentleman stood on a rug in front of a large
fire-place, meditatively winding his watch. His wife sat on a
straight-back chair, glancing over the harmless advertisements in a
religious newspaper. In the parlor they had spent an agreeab