A Tar-Heel Baron

g Man's

warm April days before the foliage casts its protective shade over the earth; through the heat of midsummer and the glorious wine

or even in hospitality's good name. It is to promote the performance of the ordinary duties of life, more comfortably carried on in the light t

r were tacked upon the walls beside long strings of dried red peppers and of okra. A gourd, cut into the shape of a cup, hung upon a nail by its cr

p to her radiant face and glowing hair. As she held the little baby in her strong young arms, she stood transfigured like

s cap with a feeling of guilt that he was bringing int

e from a fall as her temporary nurse's ey

of one arm and extending her hand. "Grandmother has been disturbed abou

town, and I am but now r-returned within a pair of minutes. I ha

gh a bank of stormy cloud to the man whose whole mind had been filled for days wi

'nin'. You-all wants yo' fl

d her on the bed, and began to get to

that terrible shyness for the girl. Why she, the belle of two seasons, whose composure always had been the envy of the girls of her age, should stand overcome with embarrassment before this jeans-clad German she truly did not know.

ggested itself. She pinned her hat

from von Rit

ip-and even hope," he added, in a whisper. Then, as Sydn

nd of the baby, now hooded for her journe

what I said? You

sed deftly into the saddle. She had no realization of the thrill that went through h

e down some of Bud's fence. Will you go wit

his happiness. To walk with his hand on her horse'

r to see you, and we are expecting some guests from New York o

hem in a whisper as he put together the rails of Bud's

him. Here he had yearned for friendship, and it had played him a scurvy trick; he had begun to see a faint glimmer of hope at the end of the black cavern-just a point of light that gave promise of a land of sun and

head of a family with the daily round of duties on a large estate to occupy his thoughts. It was one of the freaks of fate that the kin

e struck ruthlessly at the dry stalks of goldenrod on the bank, nodding southward before the prevailing wind. He still was brooding as he appro

it was Dr. Morgan's buggy. That long-haired black mule was unmistakable. The sight of it shook von

uld he do in his own house? Ah, there was only one

him. As he approached he saw the Doctor's tall figure filling the height of the doorway, though there was plenty of room to spare on

a little bit. He's been away? Is that so? Ah wonder where. Oh, here he is. Ho

een away, as no one shou

where you-all were at, and why you hadn't been to see her. She had sent Sydney to my house for news, but Ah missed her on the road somehow. The o

sir, that you do not k

ld should Ah know all the movements of

grown autocratic and unaccustomed to question by long years of pr

own here where only heaven's blue covers you, and I will t

ee the application of von Rittenheim's words about the sky, but he felt a threat in his tone, and,

the American, lank and stomachless, yet taller than the other in spite of his bent shoulders. His tawny beard was guil

t Ah'm thirsting fo' that information you're a

though his feet and hands were cold because of

Mrs. Morgan-it is now three weeks ago-did

me see. Yes, Ah 'low

von Rittenheim, dryly. "You direc

would shorten the way to Asheville, and Ah told him th

ell you, sir,

trying to pick a quarrel with him. Besides, English spoken with a foreign accent fails to carry convicti

short cut? If there is, Ah don't know

hat you lie, when you say that that was your

nd his face unfurled the banner of wrath that knows no nation, but calls all the earth its own. The two men g

a damned foreigner Ah'd kill you! But Ah suppose you

horse and mule that drew his equipage. He clambered into the carriage, whic

om side to side,-"oh, my Lawd, why ain't he an American?

treating buggy with ming

e is br-rave, that is clear; then why does he not f

was scrubbing the floor and singing a doleful hymn as an encouragement to exertion, and went into h

mirror of his tell-tale features. A gurgling sound fell upon his ear, and he saw, lying contentedly upon

olemnly. His face grew less stern

over the bed, and, turning the little head to one side with the tip o