The winter dragged. Theo's early energy vanished. In March she had a stiff bout with la Grippe, emerging white and weak, to lie once more on the sofa and long for her release in June. For that she would again go North to her father had come to be an accepted fact. She was much alone that winter while Joseph spent a great deal of time in Columbia pursuing his legislative duties; and the various Alstons spent two months in Charleston. But for this Theo was glad. Try as hard as she could—and she did try hard—she could not seem to establish any enduring basis of common interest or deep sympathy with them. She knew that they disapproved of her. Even her initial kinship with Sally, John Ashe's bride, had lapsed. For Sally was interested in nothing but her husband, and Theo found it difficult to sustain enthusiasm over John Ashe's peculiar preference for eggs roasted rather than boiled, or his distaste for French pomade and Virginia tobacco. Besides, Sally, along with the rest of the family, had decided that Theo was eccentric and gave herself airs. Witness the inordinate amount of time which she spent in reading and writing. Witness, especially, her slack methods of housekeeping and her French servants.

In truth, these latter presented problems which Theo had not anticipated. Eleanore was invaluable, but she would in no way co-operate with the blacks, and Louis, after a few weeks, did no work at all. He discovered that the negroes stood in awe of him and were prepared to obey him implicitly. So he gradually came to spend all his time in an armchair in the kitchen, languidly directing the operations of his underlings, while sampling Joseph's best wine and chewing on Joseph's best cigars. He lightened his boredom by a few affairs with the more personable of the wenches and a shortlived pursuit of Eleanore. But that shrewd peasant would have none of him, so that there was a state of war between the two. Eleanore loathed the Waccamaw; only her affection for Theo and her immense devotion to the baby kept her moderately contented. She, too, longed for June and the trip North.