u in this house. And here is Fanny! I am glad
to see you, my dear. It is very good of you to come to an old woman who
is in trouble. I think we are all in trouble together. No, don't sit
here, my dear; the library is cooler, and you must be warm. Come into
the library, Meriwether."

"Upon my word, you look twenty years younger," said Miss Fanny Tomlin.

"Do I, indeed? Then trouble must be good for me. Still, I don't
appreciate it. I am an old woman, my dear, and all the years of my life
I have had a contempt for those who fly into a rage, or lose their
tempers. And now, look at me! Never in all your days have you seen a
woman in such a rage as I have felt all day and still feel!"

"The idea!" exclaimed Miss Fanny. "Why, you look as cool as a cucumber."

"Yes, the idea!" echoed Mrs. Lumsden. "If I had those miserable
creatures in my power, do you know what I would do? Do you know,
Meriwether?"

"I can't imagine, Lucy," he replied gently. He saw that the apparent
calmness of Gabriel's grandmother was simply the result of suppressed
excitement.

"Well, I'll not tell you if you don't know." She seated herself, but
rose immediately, and went to the window, where she stood looking out,
and tapping gently on the pane with her fingers. She stood there only a
short time. "You may imagine that I am nervous," she said, turning away
from the window, "but I am not." She held out her hand to illustrate. It
was frail, but firm. "No," she went on, "I am not nervous; I am simply
furious. I know what you came for, my friends, and it is very kind of
you; but it is useless. I love you both well, and I know what you would
say. I have said such things to my friends, and thought I was performing
a duty."

"Well, you know the old saying, Lucy," said Meriwether Clopton. "Misery
loves company. We are all in the same boat, and it seems to be a leaky
one. I have heard it said that a woman's wit is sometimes better than a
man's wisdom, and, for my part, I have not come to see if you needed to
be consoled, but to find out your views."

"I have none," she said somewhat curtly. "Show me a piece of blue cloth,
and I'll tear it to pieces. That is the only thought or idea I have."

"Well, that doesn't help us much," Meriwether Clopton remarked.

At that moment, Mr. Sanders was announced, and word was sent to him to
come right in. "Howdy, everybody," he said in his informal way, as he
entered the room. He was warm, and instead of leaving his ha