dy laid for the chance
comer, and as I took possession of it in response to her invitation, I
felt again that terrible shyness--that burning physical embarrassment of
the plain man in unfamiliar surroundings. So had I felt on the morning
when I had stood in the kitchen, with my basket on my arm, and declined
the plum cake for which my mouth watered. In the road with Sally I had
appeared to share, as she had said, something of the dignity of the
broomsedge and the open sky; here opposite to Miss Matoaca, with the
rich mahogany table and the vase of chrysanthemums between us, I seemed
ridiculously out of proportion to the surroundings amid which I sat,
speechless and awkward. Was it possible that any woman could look
beneath that mountain of shyness, and discern a self-confidence in large
matters that would some day make a greater man than the General?

"Cream and sugar?" enquired Miss Mitty, in a tone from which I knew she
had striven to banish the recognition that she addressed a social
inferior. Her pleasant smile seemed etched about her mouth, over the
expression of faint wonder which persisted beneath. I felt that her
racial breeding, like Miss Matoaca's, was battling against her
instinctive aversion, and at the same moment I knew that I ought to have
declined the invitation Sally had given. A sense of outrage--of
resentment--swelled hot and strong in my heart. What was this social
barrier--this aristocratic standard that could accept the General and
reject such men as I? If it had sprung back, strong and flexible as a
steel wire, before the man, would it still present its irresistible
strength against the power of money? In that instant I resolved that if
wealth alone could triumph over it, wealth should become the weapon of
my attack. Then my gaze met Sally's over the chrysanthemums, and the
thought in my brain shrank back suddenly abashed.

"Dolly got a stone in her foot, poor dear," she remarked to her aunts,
"and Ben Starr got it out. She limped all the way home."

At her playful use of my name, a glance flashed from Miss Mitty to Miss
Matoaca and back again across the high silver service.

"Then we are very grateful to Mr. Starr," replied Miss Mitty in a prim
voice. "Sister Matoaca and I were just agreeing that you ought not to be
allowed to ride alone outside the city."

"Perhaps we can arrange with Ben to go walking along the same road,"
responded Sally provokingly, "and I shouldn't be in need of a groom.