"I will look out, Dan. There is one thing, I always ride fast; and it
wants a very good shot to hit one at a gallop. I don't think they
will try that; for if he missed, as he would be almost sure to do, it
would be a good deal worse for him than this affair would have
been had he brought it into court. You keep your ears open, Dan,
and find out how they are thinking of punishing that poor follow
for my interference on his behalf."

After breakfast a negro arrived with a note for Mrs. Wingfield
from Mr. Jackson, complaining of the unwarrantable and illegal
interference by her son on behalf of a slave who was being very
properly punished for gross misconduct; and of the personal
assault upon his son. The writer said that he was most reluctant to
take legal proceedings against a member of so highly respected a
family, but that it was impossible that he could submit to such an
outrage as this.

Although Mrs. Wingfield had expressed her disapproval of
Vincent's conduct on the evening before, there was no trace of that
feeling in her reply to this letter. She wrote in the third person,
coldly acknowledging the receipt of Mr. Jackson's letter, and
saying that she had heard from her son of his interference to put a
stop to one of those brutal scenes which brought discredit upon the
Southern States, and that she considered he had most rightly
punished Mr. Jackson, jun., for his inhuman and revolting conduct;
that she was perfectly aware the interference had been technically
illegal, but that her son was fully prepared to defend his conduct if
called upon to do so in the courts, and to pay any fine that might
be inflicted for his suffering himself to be carried away by his