hobble along best by myself."

Millie was in the dining-room, and she turned to run when she saw me,
but the old man hobbled into her way, so she came toward me with
reddening face, and held out her hand. "I am glad to see you," she said.
"Sit over here, please. That's Chyd's seat and he's so particular."

The son came in, said that he was pleased to see me, sat down, opened a
pamphlet that looked like a medical journal and began to read.

"Mr. Hawes," said the General, "I understand that you have made
arrangements to study law with Judge Conkwright. And a most fortunate
arrangement, I should think. Smart old fellow, sir; smart, and a good
man to have on your side, but a mighty bad man to have against you--half
Yankee by parentage and whole Yankee by instinct. Millie, is that cat
under the table?"

"I think not, father," the girl answered, after looking to see if the
cat were there; but this did not satisfy the old man. "You must know,
not think," he said. "There should be no doubt about the matter, for I
must tell you that if he touches my foot I'll kill him. A cat would
travel ten miles and swim a river--and a cat hates water--to claw a
gouty foot. Chyd, just put that book aside if you please."

The young man folded the pamphlet and shoved it into his pocket. "I've
struck a new germ theory," he said.

"Yes," replied the General, "and you'll strike a good many more of them
as you go on. I should think that you want facts, not theories."

"But theories lead to facts," the young man rejoined. "The theory of
to-day may become the scientific truth of to-morrow."

"And it may also be the scientific error of the day after to-morrow," I
remarked.

He looked at me, spoke a word which I did not catch and then was silent,
seeming to have forgotten what he had intended to say. I think that the
word he uttered was "hah," or something to indicate that he had paid but
slight heed to my remark. I did not repeat it, and the talk fell away
from the germ theory.

"Now, Mr. Hawes," said the General, "I want you to help yourself just as
if you were alone at your own board. It is a pleasure to have you with
us, and an additional pleasure to know, sir, that you are to become a
permanent citizen of this county. Men may think themselves wise when
they apprentice their sons to a trade, averring that the professions are
overcrowded, but that has always been the case, and yet, professional
men have ever been the happiest, for they ac