"I wish I could be there to _see_ him beaten!" Ida had tried to
turn her wounded pride into dislike, and was succeeding. "I hate to feel
he's in the same town with us--the coward!"

At this moment Mrs. Gulmore re-entered the room.

"To think of it! Sal left the gas-stove flarin'. I made her get up and
come downstairs to put it out. That'll learn her! Of all the careless,
shiftless creatures, these coloured people are the worst. Come, Ida,
it's long after nine, and I'm tired. You can read in your bedroom if you
want to."

After the usual "good night" and kisses, Ida went upstairs. While Mrs.
Gulmore busied herself putting "things straight," Mr. Gulmore sat
thinking:

"She takes after her mother in everythin', but she has more pride. It's
that makes her bitter. She's jest like her--only prettier. The same
peaky nose, pointed chin, little thin ears set close to her head, fine
hair--the Yankee school-marm. First-rate managin' women; the best wives
in the world to keep a house an' help a man on. But they hain't got
sensuality enough to be properly affectionate."

* * * * *

On the following afternoon Roberts stopped before the door of his house
and looked back towards the University. There on the crest of the hill
stood the huge building of bluish-grey stone with the round tower of the
observatory in the middle--like a mallet with a stubby handle in the