CHAPTER XVI

A CALL TO DUTY

The family name was an uncommon one, and, coupled as it was with
"Louisiana," and the title "Captain," could refer only to Gerald Le
Gaire. I wanted to question, the lad, but refrained, spurring my horse
ahead so as to remove the temptation. Even the little already said
plainly revealed that he resented bitterly his position in life, and
determined to remain no longer in slavery to his own father. His father!
That would be Le Gaire! The thought added fuel to the flame of dislike
which I already cherished against the man. Of course legally this former
relationship between master and slave meant nothing; it would be
considered no bar to legitimate marriage; perhaps to one brought up in
the environment of slavery it would possess no moral turpitude even, yet
to me it seemed a foul, disgraceful thing. Whether it would so appear to
Miss Willifred I could not even conjecture; she was of the South, with,
all the prejudice and peculiarity of thought characteristic of her
section. Pure-hearted, womanly, as I believed her to be, this earlier
alliance still might not seem to her particularly reprehensible.
Certainly it was not my part to bring it to her attention, or to utilize
my knowledge of the situation to advance my cause, or injure Le Gaire.
Nor would I question the ex-slave further; I already knew enough, too
much possibly, although curiosity was not dormant, and I wondered what
had become of the mother, and from what special cause had arisen the
intense hatred in the heart of the son.

We rode steadily forward all day, under fire twice, and once charging a
battery. All that opposed our advance however was a thin fringe of