"Nor, suh; dee ain't gent'mens; dee's scalawags!" said Richard, with
contempt. "I been livin' heah 'bout sixty years, I reckon, an' I never
seen nobody like dem eat at de table an' sleep in de beds in dis
house befo'."

When the statesmen were gone and General Keith had returned, old Richard
gave Mr. Wickersham an exhibition of the manner in which a gentleman
should be treated.



CHAPTER III

THE ENGINEER AND THE SQUIRE

Marius amid the ruins of Carthage is not an inspiring figure to us while
we are young; it is Marius riding up the Via Sacra at the head of his
resounding legions that then dazzles us. But as we grow older we see how
much greater he was when, seated amid the ruins, he sent his scornful
message to Rome. So, Gordon Keith, when a boy, thought being a gentleman
a very easy and commonplace thing. He had known gentlemen all his
life--had been bred among them. It was only later on, after he got out
into the world, that he saw how fine and noble that old man was, sitting
unmoved amid the wreck not only of his life and fortunes, but of
his world.

General Keith was unable to raise even the small sum necessary to send
the boy to college, but among the débris of the old home still remained
the relics of a once choice library, and General Keith became himself
his son's instructor. It was a very irregular system of study, but the