f me, old man," cried the planter.

"Oh, no!" said the other. "Oh, no! but you make a fool of yourself,
ain't it?"

The dumbfounded Colonel stared; Charlie went on:

"Yass! Belles Demoiselles is more wort' dan tree block like dis one. I
pass by dare since two weeks. Oh, pritty Belles Demoiselles! De cane was
wave in de wind, de garden smell like a bouquet, de white-cap was jump
up and down on de river; seven _belles demoiselles_ was ridin' on
horses. 'Pritty, pritty, pritty!' says old Charlie. Ah! _Monsieur le
Pere_, 'ow 'appy, 'appy, 'appy!"

"Yass!" he continued--the Colonel still staring--"le Compte De Charleu
have two familie. One was low-down Choctaw, one was high up _noblesse_.
He gave the low-down Choctaw dis old rat-hole; he give Belles
Demoiselles to you gran-fozzer; and now you don't be _satisfait_. What
I'll do wid Belles Demoiselles? She'll break me in two years, yass. And
what you'll do wid old Charlie's house, eh? You'll tear her down and
make you'se'f a blame old fool. I rather wouldn't trade!"

The planter caught a big breathful of anger, but Charlie went straight
on:

"I rather wouldn't, _mais_ I will do it for you;--just the same, like
Monsieur le Compte would say, 'Charlie, you old fool, I want to shange
houses wid you.'"

So long as the Colonel suspected irony he was angry, but as Charlie
seemed, after all, to be certainly in earnest, he began to feel
conscience-stricken. He was by no means a tender man, but his
lately-discovered misfortune had unhinged him, and this strange,
undeserved, disinterested family fealty on the part of Charlie touched
his heart. And should he still try to lead him into the pitfall he had
dug? He hesitated;--no, he would show him the place by broad daylight,
and if he chose to overlook the "caving bank," it would be his own
fault;--a trade's a trade.

"Come," said the planter, "come at my house to-night; to-morrow we look
at the place before breakfast, and finish the trade."

"For what?" said Charlie.

"Oh, because I got to come in town in the morning."

"I don't want," said Charlie. "How I'm goin' to come dere?"

"I git you a horse at the liberty stable."

"Well--anyhow--I don't care--I'll go." And they went.

When they had ridden a long time, and were on the road darkened by
hedges of Cherokee rose, the Colonel called behind him to the "low-down"
scion:

"Keep the road, old man."

"Eh?"

"Keep the road."

"Oh, yes; all right; I keep my word; we do