"Oh, horrible!" said the girl, in whose mind had been instilled the
strong and general dread of a negro insurrection. "There, Zany, you
and Chunk mean kindly, but neither you nor any one can help me. If
either does or says anything to make a disturbance I'll never
forgive you. My cousin and the men with him would kill you all. I'd
rather be left alone, for I must think what to do."

"I ain' sayin' not'n, Miss Lou, sence dat yo' 'quest, but doan you
gib up," and Zany took her departure, resolving to have a conference
with Chunk at the earliest possible moment.

The impossible remedies suggested by Zany depressed Miss Lou all the
more, for they increased her impression of the hopeless character of
her position. She felt that she was being swept forward by
circumstances hard to combat, and how to resist or whether she could
resist, were questions which pressed for an immediate answer. She
possessed a temperament which warned her imperatively against this
hasty marriage, nor was there any hesitancy in her belief that it
would blight her young life beyond remedy. She was not one to moan
or weep helplessly very long, however, and the first gust of passion
and grief having passed, her mind began to clear and face the
situation. Looking out of her window, she saw that her cousin and
his men were mounted and were about to ride away again. Having
waited till they had disappeared, she bathed her eyes and then
descended to her uncle.

"Where has Lieutenant Whately gone?" she asked.

"Your cousin does not forget, even at such a time, that he is a