phew in the world, yet was "aunt" to all the young folks)
was to remain, also Evilena, until the return of Mr. McVeigh, after
which they all hoped Mr. Loring could be persuaded to move up the
river to a smaller estate belonging to Gertrude, adjoining The
Terrace, as the nearness of friends would be a great advantage under
the circumstances. The isolation of Loringwood had of late become
oppressive to its mistress, who strongly advocated its sale. They had
enough land without, and she realized it was too large a tract to be
managed properly or to profit so long as her uncle was unable to see
to affairs personally. But above all else, the loneliness of it was
irksome since her return.

"Though we never did use to think Loringwood isolated, did we,
Gideon?" asked Mrs. Nesbitt, who remembered the house when full of
guests, and the fiddles and banjos of the colored musicians always
ready for dance music.

"Relentless circumstances over (he called it ovah, and Delaven
delighted in the charming dialect of the South, as illustrated by the
Judge) which we have no control have altered conditions through this
entire (entiah) commonwealth. But, no. I should not call Loringwood
exactly isolated, with the highway of the Salkahatchie at its door."

"But when no one travels the highway?" said Delaven, whose comments
had aroused the discussion. "No one but black hunters in log canoes
have I seen come along it for a week, barring yourselves. Faith, I
should think their presence alone would be enough to give a young lady
nervous chills, the daily and nightly fear of insurrection."

The Judge smiled, indulgently, willing to humor the fancies of
foreigners, who were not supposed to understand American institutions.

"Your ideas would be perfectly sound, my dear sir, if you were dealing
with any other country, where the colored man is the recognized
servant of the land and of the land owners. But we of the South, sir,
understand their needs and just the proper amount of control necessary
to be enforced for mutual protection. They have grown up under that
training until it is a part of themselves. There are refractory
blacks, of course, just as there are worthless demoralized whites, but
I assure you, sir, I voice the sentiments of our people when I state
that the families of Southern planters feel much more secure when
guarded by their colored folk than they would if surrounded by a troop
of Northern soldiery. There have been no cases w