ithout
troops and with somethin' besides shin-plasters." He turned sideways,
crossed one leg over the other and began to drum upon the table.

"We must hev help," he went on. "We must hev it and it must come from
France 'r Spain."

"They y' are agin," repeated Forrest, "as if one wuzn't as much under
th' Pope as th' other."

"Forrest!" he turned toward him and shook his finger at him in a
menacing sort of way. "Don't say that agin. Mind what I tell ye. Don't
say it again--that's all. When I'm mad, I'm not myself."

"Is that so? I s'pose I'm wrong agin, an' you're right. Tell me this.
What did yer fool leg'slature in Vi'ginya do th' other day?"

"I don't know," murmured Jim. "What did they do?"

"There y' are agin. I thought y' knew it all. Think y' know ev'rythin'
an' y' know nothin'. Passed a resolution fur a Papist priest, didn't
they?"

"And why?" pronounced Jim, flushed with anger, his lower lip quivering
with emotion. "'Cause he did more fur his country, than you or I'll ever
do. Father Gibault! And if it wazn't fur him, Colonel Clark'd never hev
op'nd th' Northwest."

"That's just what I say. The Papists'll soon own the whole damn
country."

Stephen and Mr. Allison moved as if to join the discussion, which had at
this juncture become loud enough to lose the character of intimacy. Jim
was well known to the guests of the house. The man who was known as
Forrest, was, it was plain from his uniform, a Colonel in the army. The
other man was a stranger. Much younger than his companion, tall, manly,
clad in a suit of black, with his hair in full dress, well-powdered and
gathered behind in a large silken bag, he gave every appearance of
culture and refinement. He wore a black cocked hat, whose edges were
adorned with a black feather about an inch in depth, his knees as well
as his shoes adorned with silver buckles.

"If they did own th' country," was Jim's grave reply, "we'd hev a
healthier place to live in than we now hev."

"An' whose doin' it?" shouted Forrest. "The Papists."

"Thou liest!" interrupted Mr. Allison, intruding himself into their
midst, "a confounded lie. Remember, the Catholics have given their all
to this war--their goods, their money, their sons."

"Heigh-ho! who're you?" asked the soldier. "What d' you know 'bout the
army? Hardly 'nough 'f them to go aroun'."

"A malicious untruth. Why, half the rebel army itself is reported to
have come from Ireland."

"How do you know?"

"From t