turning loose upon me the pack of
fox-hounds I had heard clamoring for their supper a few hours before.

And, too, there were five weeks yet before this wonderful being would
arrive. During this time I would walk, and accustom myself to riding,
and when this paragon did come, I would leave her in full and free
possession of the house throughout the day. It was not near so bad as it
had looked at first. By eleven o'clock I felt able to sleep, if not
entirely reconciled to the new order of things. "Sufficient unto the
day--" I thought, with a sigh, and knocking the ashes from my cold pipe
into the palm of my hand, I threw them over the railing of the porch,
and went to bed.

The days passed for me now like a procession of pleasant dreams. The
more I became acquainted with my host and hostess, the more I identified
myself with their way of living, and the more I realized that I had
fallen among people of exceedingly gentle blood. They were aristocratic,
and perhaps a little too high headed for their near neighbors, and had
but few callers, and no visitors. The practically limitless farm was
under the direct general supervision of old Henry Grundy, and he was
consequently a very busy man, and seldom at home except at meal-times. I
soon learned that the slaves all loved him, for he was slow to anger,
and always just. Out of the thirty negroes on the place, I was given a
youth of perhaps eighteen to be my body-servant. He was to black my
boots, keep my clothes dusted, hold my stirrup, take care of my horse,
and do anything else I wanted him to do. This negro I dubbed Inky, in
deference to his pronounced color.

I was allowed to sleep late in the morning,--a privilege for which I was
grateful. Often I would accompany the master on his tours of inspection,
riding a dapple-gray gelding which was placed at my disposal, and which
was exceedingly well behaved, as became an animal of his good breeding.
Then solitary walks became part of my daily routine. Accompanied only by
Fido, and carrying a walking-stick of stout hickory, I explored the
hills and valleys which stretched for miles in every direction.
Oftentimes I was gone all day, and the good people whom I had begun
almost to love were very indulgent to me, never complaining when I was
late to a meal, or when my roving spirit kept me out till after
nightfall. I had a key to the front door, and was careful to enter
noiselessly on these occasions. I had never been back to Sprin