firewood; the seared pastures, just beginning to show green again for the
second spring; the flashing creek, the seas of still hemp and yellow corn, and
Chad saw a wistful shadow cross Miss Lucy's pale face, and a darker one
anxiously sweep over the Major's jesting lips.

Guests were arriving, when they entered the yard gate, and guests were coming
behind them. General and Mrs. Dean were receiving them on the porch, and Harry
and Dan were helping the ladies out of their carriages, while, leaning against
one of the columns, in pure white, was the graceful figure of Margaret. That
there could ever have been any feeling in any member of the family other than
simple, gracious kindliness toward him, Chad could neither see nor feel. At
once every trace of embarrassment in him was gone, and he could but wonder at
the swift justice done him in a way that was so simple and effective. Even
with Margaret there was no trace of consciousness. The past was wiped clean of
all save courtesy and kindness. There were the Hunts--Nellie, and the
Lieutenant of the Lexington Rifles, Richard Hunt, a dauntless-looking dare-devil, with the ready tongue of
a coffee-house wit and the grace of a
cavalier. There was Elizabeth Morgan, to whom Harry's grave eyes were always
wandering, and Miss Jennie Overstreet, who was romantic and openly now wrote
poems for the Observer, and who looked at Chad with no attempt to conceal her
admiration of his appearance and her wonder as to who he was. And there were
the neighbors roundabout--the Talbotts, Quisenberrys, Clays, Prestons,
Morgans--surely no less than forty strong, and all for dinner. It was no
little trial for Chad in that crowd of fine ladies, judges, soldiers, lawyers,
statesmen--but he stood it well. While his self-consciousness made him
awkward, he had pronounced dignity of bearing; his diffidence emphasized his
modesty, and he had the good sense to stand and keep still. Soon they were at
table--and what a table and what a dinner that was! The dining-room was the
biggest and sunniest room in the house; its walls covered with hunting prints,
pictures of game and stag heads. The table ran the length of it. The snowy