defenseless, little creature--like the wild beast that I was!"

"Oh, Le, it was natural, my poor lad!"

"I was a savage! brutal! beastly! devilish!--but I was out of my mind! And
she never defended herself, only cried--cried for me! I wish I had dropped
dead before I spoke a word to hurt her! But the devil took me unawares,
and drove me out of my senses."

"I do not wonder, Le."

"But there, Aunt Elfrida. Go to her! I will walk on the porch for a
while."

Le's appearance on the porch was the signal for such a reception, or,
rather, such an ovation, as could only be seen on a Southern plantation,
and upon some such occasion as the present.

The news of the young midshipman's return--or "the young master's," as
they chose to call him, in view of his relations, present and prospective,
to the family of Mondreer--had spread far and wide among the negroes, and
they came flocking up, men, women and children, to shake hands with him
and welcome him home.

Some of the elder negroes, with "itching palms," belabored him with
begging questions of--

"Wot yer got fur yer ole Aunt Mole, honey?"

"Wot yer done home f'om furrin' parts fur yer ole Uncle Bob?"

And so forth and so forth.

Le promised one and all a present as soon as ever his sea chest should
arrive.

And yet they might have stayed there all day but for the opportune
appearance of Aunt Lucy on the scene.

She had watched from an upper window the gathering of the crowd, and now
she swooped down upon them.

"Shame o' yerselbes!" she said. "Come yere bodderin' the young marse fust
minute as eber he get in de house! Whar's yer manners?"

"Don't scold them, Aunt Lucy," pleaded Le. "They came to welcome me
home."

"Dey come to beg, dat's wot dey come for--to beg. It's a habit dey gibs
deirselves," said the unrelenting Lucy.

"It is a habit they cannot indulge in more than once in three years, where
I am concerned. I do not come home every day."

"An' a werry good fing, too, for it's a werry bad habit."

"What, coming home?"

"No, sah. Dem niggahs is a werry bad habit as oughtn't to be 'dulged in
once--no, not once. Now cl'ar out wid yer all, an' go 'bout yer work."

This order was addressed to the negroes, who, overawed by the authority of
the chief house servant, began to steal away from the house.

CHAPTER XV

LE'S FIERY TRIAL

Le was still walking up and down on the porch, when Mr. Force rode up,
followed by his mounted groom.

He