ll 'immersion' jes' diluted the
'riginal sin in ye mighty leetle. Ye air a toler'ble strong toddy o'
iniquity yit. That thar water tempered the whiskey ye drink mighty
leetle,--mighty leetle!"

The Christian grace of Silas Boyd was put to a stronger test than it
might have been deemed capable of sustaining. But Sneed was a far
older man, and as nothing short of breaking his stiff neck might
suffice to tame him, Silas Boyd summoned his self-control, and held
his tingling hands, and gave himself only to retort.

"I wouldn't take that off'n ye, Mr. Sneed, 'ceptin' I be a perfessin'
member, an' pity them ez is still in the wiles an' delusions o'
Satan."

What might have ensued in the nature of counterthrust, as Persimmon
Sneed heard himself called by inference an object of pity, the
subsidiary group were spared from learning, for at that moment the
sound of steps heralded an approach, and Ben Hanway came into the
circle, and sought to claim the attention of the party, inviting them
to dine and pass the nooning hour at his house. His countenance was
adjusted to the smile of hospitality, but it wore the expression like
a mask, and he seemed ill at ease. He had been contending all the
morning with Narcissa's freakishness, which he thought intensified by
the presence of the valley man, who was returning the civility of that
ill-omened visit, and who, by reason of the abnormal excitements of
the day, had been received with scant formality, and was already upon
the footing of a familiar friend. Selwyn stood smilingly in the way
hard by, speaking to those of the men as they passed who gave his
presence the meed of a start and a stare of blank surprise, or a curt
nod. Narcissa lingered in the background, beneath a great oak; her
chin was a little lifted with a touch of displeasure; the eyelids
drooped over her brown eyes; her hands, with her wonted careless
gesture and with a certain mechanical effort to dispel embarrassment,
were raised to the curtain of her white sunbonnet, and spread its
folds wingwise behind her auburn hair. Sundry acquaintances among the
honorary attendants paused to greet her pleasantly as they passed, but
old Sneed's disapprobation of a woman's appearance on so public an
occasion was plainly expressed on his features. For all the Turks are
not in Turkey. She followed with frowning, disaffected eyes the
procession of men and horses and dogs and colts wending up to the
invisible house hidden amongst the fu