From the first hours on Debordieu Island she knew a peace she had never before found in the South. The 'Castle' had grace and informality. It was built on a mound of oyster shells and raised high on brick piles, so that the servants' and kitchen quarters beneath the house were always light and cool. The house proper had but one floor—two great rooms with octagonal bay windows at either end, connected by a central hall and four small bedrooms. The two twenty-foot rooms were, respectively, Theo's bedroom, which she shared with Gampy, and a living-dining-room facing upon the ocean.

The island was covered with crab grass, relieved by a few stunted cedars, scrub oak, and the pretty red-berried cassena bush, but all this shrubbery was low and in no way checked the constant salt breeze. A wide porch spread across the house front, and on the afternoon of their arrival Theo curled up in a chair on this porch, took deep breaths of fresh salty air, and listened contentedly to the ceaseless booming of the sea

Presently a delicious odor of frying oysters stole up from the kitchen below. She realized that for the first time in weeks she was really hungry and eager for supper. There were three servants down there in the kitchen—Dido the cook, her husband Hector, and their little son Cupid. Theo's selection of these particular slaves had annoyed Joseph. Neither they nor any of their forebears had been house servants; they were field hands, and that was that.

'But can't they be promoted?' urged Theo. 'I wouldn't dream of taking Phoebe away from the Oaks or disturbing the arrangements there. And I know Dido can cook. I visited her cabin the other day when she was stewing a rabbit that tasted most delectable. Anyway, Eleanore can teach her.'

'The regular house servants will resent your interfering with their caste system,' objected Joseph.

Theo sighed. 'I'm afraid they resent anything I do, anyway——Oh, it's not anything tangible,' she added quickly, seeing Joseph's frown deepen and wishing to forestall the usual criticisms of her plantation management. 'It's just that I should like to start fresh at the beach with new servants who will be tractable and grateful for their elevation.'