a' foun'
out fer hisse'f what kinder daddy he got."

"Blast your black hide! I'll knock your brains out if you talk that way
to me!" exclaimed Silas Tomlin, white with anger.

"Well, I bet you nobody don't knock yo' brains out," remarked Rhody
undismayed. "An' while I'm 'bout it, I'll tell you dis: Yo' supper's in
dar in de pots an' pans; ef you want it you go git it an' put on de
table, er set flat on de h'ath an' eat it. Dat chile's gone, an' I'm
gwine."

"You dratted fool!" Silas exclaimed, "you know Paul hasn't gone for
good. He'll come back when he gets hungry, and be glad to come."

"Is you ever seed him do dis away befo' sence he been born?" Rhody
paused and waited for a reply, but none was forthcoming. "No, you ain't!
no, you ain't! You don't know no mo' 'bout dat chile dan ef he want
yone. But I--me--ol' Rhody--I know 'im. I kin look at 'im sideways an'
tell ef he feelin' good er bad er diffunt. What you done done ter dat
chile? Tell me dat."

But Silas Tomlin answered never a word. He sat glowering at Rhody in a
way that would have subdued and frightened a negro unused to his ways.
Rhody started toward the kitchen, but at the door leading to the
dining-room she paused and turned around. "Oh, you got a heap ter answer
fer--a mighty heap; an' de day will come when you'll bar in mind eve'y
word I been tellin' you 'bout dat chile fum de time he could wobble
'roun' an' call me mammy."

With that she went out. Silas heard her moving about in the back part of
the house, but after awhile all was silence. He sat for some time
communing with himself, and trying in vain to map out some consistent
course of action. What a blessing it would be, he thought, if Paul would
make good his threat, and go away! It would be like tearing his father's
heart-strings out, but better that than that he should remain and be a
witness to his own disgrace, and to the bitter humiliation of his
father.

Silas had intended to warn his son that he was throwing away his time by
going with Eugenia Claiborne--that marriage with her was utterly
impossible. But it was a very delicate subject, and, once embarked in
it, he would have been unable to give his son any adequate or
satisfactory reason for the interdiction. Many wild and whirling
thoughts passed through the mind of Silas Tomlin, but at the end, he
asked himself why he should cross the creek before he came to it?

The reflection was soothing enough to bring home to his mind the fa