ay. He means to--to get you if
he possibly can. He's planning a fine house, and said he was going to
tell you about it when he come over. He says women know better about
such things than men, and is going to offer you full sway. To do him
credit, there ain't nothing little about Long. He'll do right, I reckon,
by any woman he pledges his word to. I'd hate to--to think I'd fetched
you together if--if he wasn't all right--that is, honest and upright."

"I know that," Dixie said. "But let's not talk about him, or his fine
house, or his money, or his good intentions. He don't seem, somehow, to
fit one bit into my feelings this morning. He's a cold-blooded business
proposition, and last night's terror and this morning's joy has filled
me to here"--she held her tapering hand under her plump chin and
laughed--"well, with some'n different from him. The truth is, I don't
care if I never see him again. That's a fact, Alfred. I feel like I'm on
the up-hill road in single harness, anyway, since I am out of debt to
Welborne, and owe you, instead. When are you going to send that note
over for me to sign?"

"Never, if I can help it," he said. "I've let men owe me without note or
security, why should I make you sign up for a trifle like that?"

"Well, to tell the truth, I like it as it is," she answered, with a fine
smile and a rippling laugh that woke the echoes in the quiet spot. "It
is such a sweet proof of your friendship. Ain't it funny how me 'n you
have been mixed up in things? You know me as well as I know myself,
Alfred. You've helped me, and I hope I have you--some. I don't know; I
hope I have."

"More than anybody else in the world," he said, fervently.

They had come to where their ways separated, and, with his hat in his
hand, and his heart full of an inexplicable, transcendental something,
he stood under the trees and watched her move away.

CHAPTER XXVII

On the day following Long's second visit to Dixie, Henley's affairs took
him to Carlton. He was at the cotton-compress making arrangements to
have a quantity of cotton prepared for shipment, when he met one of
Long's clerks.

"Have you seen Mr. Long?" the young man asked.

"No, I've just got in," Henley answered. He could not have explained the
fact, not being given to self-analysis, but he had vaguely determined
that he would make every possible effort to avoid the storekeeper. In
spite of his good intentions to aid Dixie in the contemplated alliance,