reckin' she done--the ole 'oman? Tuck the little gyrl
right out of my han's an' kerried her home--marched off as proud as
ole Queen Victory."

"Home? What home?" asked Travis.

"An' that's the mischief of it," went on Jud. "I thort she was lyin'
about the home, an' I stepped down there at noon an' I hope I may die
to-night if she ain't got 'em all fixed up as snug as can be, an' the
Major is there as sober es a jedge, an' lookin' like a gentleman an'
actin' like a Conway. Say, but you watch yo' han'. That's blood that
won't stan' monkeyin' with when it's in its right mind. An' the
little home the ole 'oman's got, she bought it with her own money,
been savin' it all her life an' now"--

"What did you say to her this morning?" asked Travis.

"Oh, I cussed her out good--the old black"--

A peculiar light flashed in Richard Travis' eyes. Never before had
the Whipper-in seen it. It was as if he had looked up and seen a halo
around the moon.

"To do grand things--to do grand things--like that--negro that she
is! No--no--of course you did not understand. Our moral sense is
gone--we mill people. It is atrophied--yours and mine and all of
us--the soul has gone and mine? My God, why did you give it back to
me now--this ghost soul that has come to me with burning breath?"

Jud Carpenter listened in amazement and looked at him suspiciously.
He came closer to see if he could smell whiskey on his breath, but
Travis looked at him calmly as he went on: "Why, yes, of course you
cursed her--how could you understand? How could you know--you, born
soulless, know that you had witnessed something which, what does the
old preacher call him--the man Jesus Christ--something He would have
stopped and blessed her for. A slave and she saved it for her master.
A negro and she loved little children where we people of much
intellect and a higher civilization and Christianity--eh, Jud,
Christians"--and he laughed so strangely that Jud took a turn around
the room watching Travis out of the corner of his eyes.

"Oh--and you cursed her!"

Jud nodded. "An' to-morrow I'll go an' fetch the little 'un back. Why
she's signed--she's our'n for five years."

Travis turned quickly and Jud dodged under the same strange light
that showed again in his eyes. Then he laid his hand on Jud's arm and
said simply: "No--no--you will not!"

Jud looked at him in open astonishment.

Travis puffed at his cigar as he said:

"Don't study me too closely. Things