er. But upon receiving a very flattering
reassurance, he accepted the offer. Thus, the General remained as an
employe on the estate which had been renowned for generations as the
home of the Keiths. And as agent for the new owner he farmed the place
with far greater energy and success than he had ever shown on his own
account. It was a bitter cup for Gordon to have his father act as an
"overseer"; but if it contained any bitterness for General Keith, he
never gave the least evidence of it, nor betrayed his feeling by the
slightest sign.

When Mr. Wickersham visited his new estate he admitted that Mr. Bagge
knew better than he how to deal with General Keith.

When he was met at the station by a tall, gray-haired gentleman who
looked like something between a general and a churchwarden, he was
inclined to be shy; but when the gentleman grasped his hand, and with a
voice of unmistakable sincerity said he had driven out himself to meet
him, to welcome him among them, he felt at home.

"It is gentlemen like yourself to whom we must look for the preservation
of our civilization," said General Keith, and introduced him personally
to every man he met as, "the gentleman who has bought my old place--not
a 'carpet-bagger,' but a gentleman interested in the development of our
country, sir."

Mr. Wickersham, in fact, was treated with a distinction to which he had
been a stranger during his former visits South. He liked it. He felt
quite like a Southern gentleman, and with one or two Northerners whom he
met held himself a little distantly.

Once or twice the new owner of Elphinstone came down with parties of
friends--"to look at the country." They were interested in developing
it, and had been getting sundry acts passed by the legislature with this
in view. (General Keith's nose always took a slight elevation when the
legislature was mentioned.) General Keith entertained the visitors
precisely as he had done when he was the master, and Mr. Wickersham and
his guests treated him, in the main, as if he were still the master.
General Keith sat at the foot of the table opposite Mr. Wickersham, and
directed the servants, who still called him "Master," and obeyed him
as such.

Mr. Wickersham conceived a great regard for General Keith, not unmingled
with a certain contempt for his inability to avail himself of the new
conditions. "Fine old fellow," he said to his friends. "No more
business-sense than a child. If he had he would go in w