The Alstons went back to South Carolina by land, and the long uncomfortable trip produced constant friction. Day after day the five of them were shut into the heavy family coach, while it rocked and rumbled southward. Colonel Alston and William Algernon sat with their backs to the horses. Joseph, Theo, and the fretful baby rode on the opposite seat. Little Gampy at a year and a half was as active and restless as arc other children of that age, and Theo exhausted herself trying to quiet him. Moreover, he was teething and his resentful wailing was difficult to bear. Frequent drizzles made it impossible to give him to Eleanore, who rode behind in the open spring wagon, so the four adults in the coach endured the child according to their various natures. The Colonel and William Algernon talked horse-racing when they could hear each other above the din; when they could not, they said nothing, but their long faces were set in heavy disapproval. Joseph occasionally dandled his son irritably until his scanty patience was exhausted. Then he dumped him back onto Theo, who soothed and rocked him, racking her brain for new stories and songs with which to quiet him.

From Lumberton, South Carolina, she wrote to Aaron on October twenty-ninth: 'Thank Heaven, my dear father, I am at Lumberton, and within a few days of rest. 1 am sick, fatigued, out of patience, and on the very brink of being out of temper....We travel in company with the two Alstons.

Pray teach me how to write two A's without producing something like an ASS.'

This state of irritation was hardly lessened by Joseph's belated admission that they were not bound for the Oaks, which was being plastered and would not be ready for them. 'We will spend a few days at Clifton with the family, then visit John Ashe and Sally at Hagley, before we go to Charleston,' said Joseph.

'I think you might have told me sooner,' snapped Theo. 'Why is our own plantation never ready? You know very well that the baby and I need rest. A round of family visits is scarcely conducive to that.'

'I don't see why not,' retorted Joseph. 'You've been away all summer and can now do as I wish for a change.'

Her sense of justice silenced her. According to his lights Joseph was an exceptionally indulgent husband. After a bit she smiled at him apologetically. 'I'm sorry I was cross. This trip has been hard on all our tempers'. She sighed, and to change the subject brought out the first topic which occurred to her. 'I suppose you have never heard anything of Venus?'

A long silence followed this chance remark. Theo looked up at her husband, surprised. They had been sitting together in their room at the little tavern in Lumberton. Gampy slept in a trundle bed beneath theirs, her father and brother-in-law had already retired.