to give, an' it will tell 'em whar you've gone that you was good."

There was a dampness in the air that night, and Mandy Ann felt it as she
rose from the grave, and brushed bits of palmetto from her dress and
hair. But she did not mind it, and as she walked to the house she felt
greatly comforted with the thought that she had _cussed_ him, and that
Miss Dory was wearing her ring as a sign that she was good, and that
"ole granny Thomas had gin in."




CHAPTER VII

COL. CROMPTON


He was young to be a colonel, but the title was merely nominal and
complimentary, and not given for any service to his country. When only
twenty-one he had joined a company of militia--young bloods like
himself--who drilled for exercise and pleasure rather than from any idea
that they would ever be called into service. He was at first captain,
then he rose to the rank of colonel, and when the company disbanded he
kept the title, and was rather proud of it, as he was of everything
pertaining to himself and the Cromptons generally. It was an old English
family, tracing its ancestry back to the days of William the Conqueror,
and boasting of two or three titles and a coat-of-arms. The American
branch was not very prolific, and so far as he knew, the Colonel was the
only remaining Crompton of that line in this country, except the son of
a half-brother. This brother, who was now dead, had married against his