y."

"Heaven forbid," pleaded the wife, "I know Captain Barbour surely would
not wound your feelings intentionally."

The Colonel explained that they were talking over their troubles,
bewailing their helplessness, when Captain Barbour said: "Why Colonel
Charlotte, you're better off than any of us, you have the means at your
command to not only make a living but to lay a little money by."

"And wife, when I asked him how, what do you think he said? That I had a
carriage and horses and I could open a livery stable. Open a livery
stable!" And the hot blood of the Charlottes' reddened his temples again
as he clinched his fists and walked up and down in his anger. "Me, a
Charlotte, engage in the livery business. Why, wife, I could scarcely
keep my hands off him. Me, a Charlotte, in the livery business. Pollute
that old family carriage that bears on its panels the crest of the
Charlotte family, whose blood runs back to the men of Cromwell."

The facts are the old family carriage was about the only relic of the
Charlotte family's former greatness; imported from England years before,
held as almost sacred by succeeding generations of the Charlotte family.
To have one intimate that the sacred old vehicle should be used to
convey the common herd was a heavy blow to the pride of the Colonel.

"Well, Colonel," soothingly spoke the wife, "I know your pride has
been hurt, I know just how badly you feel. I know you are proud and
I really fear that Captain Barbour in his zeal to assist you was
indiscreet. He should not have spoken so abruptly but should have
given you time to consider the motive that prompted him. I
know--he--he--meant--well--and--and--perhaps--you--should--consider
his advice. Can't we talk it over?" As she approached him, looking
up into his face with a half smile and a half cry, she pleaded:
"I would hate to say one word that would humble your pride,
but--but those children--you know they ought to have schooling.
And I declare, Colonel--I do not know--what we're going to do for
something to--to--eat." And here the wife broke down.

The Colonel folded her in his arms as he soothed her, stroking her hair.
He declared he would sacrifice all the pride of the Charlottes that she
and his did not suffer.

The negroes were sent to the corn patch to fetch the old horses, pluck
the burrs out of manes and tails, smooth them up by currying the long
hair off their shaggy coats. The old family carriage was hauled out of
t