Aaron rose abruptly, 'Come, Theo. You look like Lady Macbeth. What is there so tragic in the visit of a pleasant young man? Most young ladies would consider it cause for joy. Anyway, remember that, whatever your inner megrims and vapors may be, I wish you to be extremely nice to him'. She, too, rose from her stool, lifting her round chin in a gesture that had unconscious dignity. 'I trust that I shall never be found wanting in hospitality to your guests.'

She gave him a quivering little smile and moved slowly up the stairs.

CHAPTER FIVE

THE following morning Joseph Alston swirled up to the front steps with an imposing equipage; his private cabriolet drawn by two perfectly matched bays, followed by a hired coachee crammed with luggage and three slaves: his bodyservant Cato, a cook, and a groom. These were Gullahs ; their skins had a bluish hue; they wore strips of scimitarshaped hair before their ears; and their unusually tall bodies looked picturesque in the Alston livery of red and green. They spoke a dialect unintelligible to the Richmond Hill negroes, who received these foreigners with suspicion and curiosity.

Aaron greeted Alston at the door, ushered him directly to the library, and rolled the traveling decanters over to him invitingly. The young planter relaxed under the influences of cognac and Aaron's concentrated charm. After the requisite interchange of amenities, Aaron brought the conversation deftly around to Theodosia.

'She admires you tremendously—thinks you vastly handsome, you know.'

Joseph's jaw dropped; he spilled some of his cognac. 'I fear you are mistaken, sir; she finds me intolerable. I—she—I'm afraid she has cause.'

Aaron effaced his smile. 'Cause, sir? What do you mean by cause?'

Joseph cleared his throat, while a painful red mounted to his close curls. He had not meant to say so much. He was deeply ashamed of his actions in the garden, all the more so as Theodosia now seemed to him a bright and dazzling spirit, infinitely desirable. He had, besides, only a hazy memory of what had actually occurred. He remembered the mood, but not the details.

Aaron saw that the young man needed a bit of direction and summoned a portentous frown. 'Surely Mr. Joseph Alston of South Carolina has made no overtures to my daughter of which he is ashamed.'