the road for forty years, but I never had the indecency to be brought on
a litter into a gentleman's house who was not of my way of thinking! And
every man and woman on the place--barring poor Nancy--out to receive
him! I am not at home among fools, so I came here--though the Lord knows
there's many a fool to be found in a library!--Well, are any bones
broken?"

"Dr. Gilmer will tell us--oh, he looked like death!"

"Who?--William Gilmer?" demanded Uncle Edward with asperity. "Your
pronoun 'he' stands for your antecedent 'Gilmer.' But what's the English
tongue when we have a Jacobin in the house! Women like strange animals,
and they are vastly fond of pitying. But you were always a home body,
Jacqueline, and left Unity to run after the sea lions and learned pigs!
And now you sit there as white as your gown!"

Jacqueline smiled. "Perhaps I am of those who pity. I hear a horse upon
the road! It may be Dr. Gilmer!" and up she started.

"The horse has gone by," said Uncle Edward. "Gilmer cannot possibly be
here for an hour. Sit down, child, and don't waste your pity. The Rands
are used to hard knocks. I've seen old Gideon in the ring, black and
blue and blind with blood, demanding proof that he was beaten. The
gentleman upstairs will take care of himself. Bah!--Where is Ludwell
Cary this afternoon?"

"He rode, I think, to Charlottesville."

"You think! Don't you know?--What woman was ever straightforward!"