Bonard was, after all, the elder brother, and would eventually come in for a good share of the profits of Oaks. He appeared to be settling down to a regular pursuit of a career in the law under the sponsorship of her brother-in-law. Whatever might be said of the frivolous side of Felix’s nature, no one could dispute the fact that he was a first-class man of business affairs. Had he not been the first to see the advantages of a cotton gin built with Kendrick money? Between them Deborah and Felix owned the gin; it paid for itself over again each year, and they had added a warehouse at his suggestion to the original structure. Felix bought the bales of cotton the smaller farms produced and stored them until he could command the best price, with none of the possible haste the farmers might have felt to make a sale. Bonard would do well under the tutelage of Felix.

And as he settled down, she hoped in marriage to Selma for whom he had always evidenced a particular regard, so, she had no doubt, would Leon. Leon was considered a little wild by the county folk. His father’s death might have provided an opportunity for early maturing, but it had done no such thing, because of the scandal concerning the girl Clovis.

Deborah’s suddenly made plan of sending him to school with Bonard in Savannah had been followed. The Samuel Holt Academy for young men was not a college, although those attending it were accustomed to refer to it as such. First-year boys were required to live on the premises of the Academy, but in his second year Leon persuaded his mother and the Academy authorities to let him take lodgings with Bonard in the town.

No one thought Bonard wicked, but he was said to be haughty and pleasure-loving, and if expedience had not dictated Deborah’s sending Leon away with him, she surely might have found safer guide and mentor for her son. Leon was an agreeable boy who liked to be liked even more than do most; he was therefore malleable. He had no strong ambition, no special bent toward the study of law for a possible future in politics. He was bored by talk of business, although he was polite enough to hide it in the company of his elders.