nture has led him. He accepted her implied
tribute modestly and with unaffected gratification, again wiping his
brow and his broad, good face.

When I joined them at four o'clock, having been moved by hope of a
cooling chat with Miss Caroline, the minister was slightly more flushed,
I thought, than the day could warrant. He was about to leave, was, in
fact, concluding his choicest anecdote of "Big Joe" Kestril--for he was
a man who met all our kinds. "Big Joe," six feet, five, a tower of
muscled brawn, standing on a corner, pleasantly inebriated, had watched
go feebly by the tottering, palsied form of little old Bolivar Kent, our
most aged and richest man. The minister, also passing, had observed
Kestril's humorous stare.

"The big fellow called to me," he was saying to Miss Caroline as I came
up. "'Parson,' said he--they all know me familiarly, madam--'Parson,'
said he, 'I wish I could take all I'm worth and all old Kent is worth
and put it in a bunch on the sidewalk there and then fight the old cuss
for it!'"

It was a favorite anecdote of the minister's, but I had never known him
before to tell it to a lady on the occasion of his first call. Miss
Caroline laughed joyously as she turned to greet me.

"I can't tell you how finely I've been entertained," she said to me.

"Nor can I tell him for myself, madam," retorted the minister. I thought
indeed he spoke with an effort that made this gallantry seem not
altogether baseless in fact.

"I was on the point of leaving," said the minister.

"Are you returning home, or have you more calls in the neighborhood?" I
asked, feeling just a tinge of uneasiness about his expansive manner.

"No more calls, no. I had planned, instead, a pleasant walk up along the
riverside to a spring some distance above. I mean to procure a supply of
this delicious mint--for mint juleps," he added affably.

"Come with me," I urged. I was about to walk out myself. Together we
bade adieu to Miss Caroline.

But the minister's walk ended at my own door. In the cool gloom of my
little library I asked him if he would be good enough to excuse me a
moment, indicating the broad couch beneath the window.

"With pleasure, Major!" and he sank among the restful pillows. "I am
ashamed to say that the heat has rendered me a trifle indolent".

When I came softly back five minutes later, he lay in deep slumber, his
face cherubically innocent, his breathing soft as a babe's. He awoke
freshly two hours l