hter, and found the business that had called him to the country so engrossing that he

see for himself that the house was a constant menace to human life. In the evenings the three would sit out on the ga

them almost daily on horseback, on their way to the woods. It was seldom that their appea

der her tignon, stood with arms akimbo watching them as they disappeared on

isten to me, he gwine quit dat

d her head, and fingered the blue beads at her throat, in a way to indicate t

der a gemman f'om payin' intentions

tep. "Nobody don' know dem Sanchun boys bettah 'an I does. Did n' I done part raise 'em? W'

e yo' ha'r tu'n

croquignoles, an' I wants 'em quick, too.' I 'low: 'G' 'way f'om dah, boy. Don' you see I's flutin' yo' ma's petticoat?' He say: 'La Chatte, put 'side dat ar flutin'i'on an' dat ar petticoat;' an' he cock dat gun an' p'int it to my head. 'Dar de ba'el,' he say; 'git out dat flour, git out dat butta an' dat aigs; step roun' dah, ole 'oman.

f he tu'n roun' an' git mad wid

I knows w'at he gwine do

pa done, L

hatte arose slowly and went to gather her party-colored wash that hung

a business character. Offdean had made a contract with a neighboring mill for fencing, in exchange for a certain amount of uncut timber. H

blazed a tree with the sharp hatchet which he carried at his pommel, and had further discharged his duty by calling it "a fine piece of timber," they would

whether it was his manner or the tone of his voice, or the earnest glance of his dark and deep-set blue ey

and tubs into Offdean's room to catch the streams that threatened to fl

she stood with a cloak around her, close up against the house. He leaned against the house,

ranches were beating with sad monotony against the blackened roof. Great pools of water had formed in the yard, which was deserted by every living thing; for the little da

ean thought it delightful. He only wondered that he had never known, or some one had never told him, how charming a place an old, dismantled plantation can

know such things that much correspondence was required between himself and Euphrasie, and he watched eagerly for those letters that told him of her trials and vexations with carpenters, bricklayers, and shingle-bearers. But in the midst of it, Offdean sudde