84

_And so the picture was begun_ 104

"_Promise me that you will stop the whole business_" 172

"_It is all her doing, Phil_" 205

COLONEL CARTER'S
CHRISTMAS

I

"What am I gwine to do wid dese yere barkers, Colonel?" asked Chad,
picking up his master's case of duelling pistols from the mantel. "I
ain't tetched der moufs since I iled 'em up for dat Klutchem man."

"Take them upstairs, Chad, and put them away," answered the Colonel
with an indignant wave of the hand.

"No chance o' pickin' him, I s'pose? Done got away fo' sho, ain't he?"

The Colonel nodded his head and kept on looking into the fire. The
subject was evidently an unpleasant one.

"Couldn't Major Yancey an' de Jedge do nuffin?" persisted the old
servant, lifting one of the pistols from the case and squinting into
its polished barrel.

"Eve'ything that a gentleman could do was done, Chad. You are aware of
that, Major?" and he turned his head towards me--the Colonel will
insist on calling me "Major." "But I am not done with him yet, Chad.
The next time I meet him I shall lay my cane over his back. Take them
upstairs and put them on my dressin' table. We'll keep them for some
gentleman at home."

The Colonel arose from his chair, picked up the decanter, poured out a
glass for me and one for himself, replenished his long clay pipe from
a box of tobacco within reach of his hand and resumed his seat again.
Mention of Mr. Klutchem's name produced a form of restlessness in my
host which took all his self-control to overcome.

"--And, Chad." The old darky had now reached the door opening into the
narrow hall, the case of pistols in his hand.

"Yes, sah."

"I think you have a right to know, Chad, why I did not meet Mr.
Klutchem in the open field."

Chad bent his head in attention. This had really been the one thing of
all others about which this invaluable servant had been most
disturbed. Before this it had been a word, a blow, and an exchange of
shots at daybreak in all the Colonel's affairs--all that Chad had
attended--and yet a week or more had now elapsed since this worthy
darky had moulded some extra bullets for these same dogs "wid der
moufs open," and until to-night the case had never even left its place
on the mantel.

[Illustration: "Take them upstairs and put them on my dressin'
table."]

"I was disposed, Chad," the Colonel continued, "