mer took his departure. He passed out as he had passed in;
but while he was indoors little Mr. Stamps had changed his position. He
now sat near the wooden steps, his legs dangling as before, his small
countenance as noncommittal as ever. As the stranger neared him, he
raised his pale little eyes, blinked them, indulged in a slight jerk of
the head, and uttered a single word of greeting.

"Howdy?"

The stranger started, glanced down at him, and walked on. He made no
answer, untied his horse, mounted it, and rode back over the Barnesville
Road towards the mountain.

Mr. Stamps remained seated near the steps and blinked after him silently
until he was out of sight.

"Ye didn't seem to talk none, D'Willerby," said one of the outsiders when
Tom reappeared.

Tom sank into his chair, thrust his hands into his pockets, and stretched
his limbs out to their fullest capacity.

"Let a man rest, boys," he said, "let a man rest!"

He was silent for some time afterwards, and even on the arrival of the
mail was less discursive than usual. It was Mr. Stamps who finally
aroused him from his reverie.

Having obtained his mail--one letter in a legal-looking envelope--and
made all other preparations to return to the bosom of his family, Stamps
sidled up to the counter, and, leaning over it, spoke in an insinuatingly
low tone:

"She was bar'foot," he said, mildly, "'n' she hadn't been raised to
it--that was one thing. Her feet wus as soft 'n' tender as a baby's; 'n'
fur another thing, her hands wus as white as her face, 'n' whiter. Thet
ain't the way we raise 'em in Hamlin County--that's all."

And, having said it, he slipped out of the store, mounted his mule, and
jogged homeward on the Barnesville Road also.

CHAPTER II

Before the war there were no people better known or more prominent in
their portion of the State than the De Willoughbys of Delisle County,
Tennessee. To have been born a De Willoughby was, in general opinion, to
have been born with a silver spoon in one's mouth. It was indeed to have
been born to social dignity, fortune, courage, and more than the usual
allowance of good looks. And though the fortune was lavishly spent, the
courage sometimes betrayed into a rather theatrical dare-deviltry, and
the good looks prone to deteriorate in style, there was always the social
position left, and this was a matter of the deepest importance in
Delisleville. The sentiments of Delisleville were purely patrician. I