Se emanates titan eal 
erations, so thickly did it seem to lie. 
We crossed a branch over which there 
had been built an old stone bridge, 
now covered with vines. 
“That, sir, was built as a memorial 
to General Oglethorpe,” said my old 
host, seeing my curiosity, for the 
bridge was out of all proportion to the 
size of the stream. ‘When the gen- 
eral paid his memorable visit to this 
place it was right there, sir, that he 
drew from his pocket a simall flask 
and after offering my grandfather a 
dram took one himself. You must 
know, sir, that the great philanthropist 
Was supposed to be a teetotaler and 
certainly never took a drink in the 
presence of any of his colonists for 
fear of setting them a bad example. 
That little act shows as nothing else 
could the great confidence and esteem 
in which he held my worthy progeni- 
tor.” 
I was anxious to hear more of this 
episode, but feared to get the colonel 
started on what was evidently to him 
an important bit of family history and 
which I suspected strongly had become 
a hobby. “Some day Ellen shall walk 
here with you,” he added, “and show 
you the inscriptions on it. You will 
find them interesting.” 
Bllen again. I was beginning to feel 
the keenest anxiety to meet this Hllen 
and to wonder what she could be— 
half cook and half lady, I had begun 
to think from the little bits I had pick- 
ed up concerning her during the day. 
We passed from the pine trees into a 
long avenue of cedars, and when we 
emerged from this the Pines in all its 
solitary and lonely grandeur stood be- 
fore us, rich in coloring from the set- 
ting sun that bathed it in a crimson 
glow. As I looked at it in wonderment 
it might have been a dream out of the 
past that had taken shape and floated 
now across my vision. Its front and 
sides were flanked with colonial col- 
umns of the Doric type, and the low 
wings running at right angles to the 
body of the house were covered with 
vines which almost hid the low porch. 
This porch was supported by diminu- 
tive columns of the same graceful 
curves. I was so moved by the beauty 
of the whole at first that I failed to 
note that some of the columns were on 
the point of falling and that others 
were crumbling to decay. The plaster 
had fallen from many of them, show- 
ing a dull red brick behind. But these 
evidences of decay gave an additional 
charm to the scene, augmenting its per- 
fection as a whole and keeping it in 
perfect harmony with its owner and 
the neighborhood of that section. It 
seemed to typify the generation then 
living there and fighting against its 
own decay. I was awakened from my 
dreamy thought by hearing the colonel 
ealling loudly for some one to get the 
horse. Presently there came from 
around one of the wings a little, half 
naked urchin, who said that Mrs. Tur- 
pin had gone to the Trig funeral, and 
that Miss Ellen was cooking the din- 
-with black horsehair, 
WORTH SHORE BREEZE 
ner, and that ‘““Young Marsa” had not 
come from the fields. 
“Then tell Miss Ellen, Sammie, to 
put another finger in the pie, for I have 
brought a guest home with me. Now, 
sir,” turning to me, “if you will come 
with me, I will show you your room 
and bid you make yourself at home.” 
We passed under the huge doorway 
and entered a large hall which was as 
wide as any room I could remember in 
my grandfather’s house in New Eng- 
land, It was almost bare of furniture. 
There were two or more large mahog- 
any sofas which had once been lined 
but this latter 
was so much worn that the matting 
showed beneath it in places, and in 
others it was patched with bright col- 
ored calico and sometimes with pieces 
of faded silk. The colonel led me upa 
flight of stairs, bare of carpet. but 
clean and polished. 
“You will be right over the billiard 
room,” he said, opening a door which 
led into a beautifully lighted room on 
the east side, standing in the center of 
which vas a large, canopied bed. “If 
you care for billiards,” he continued, 
“T will wager that Ellen can give you 
ten points and beat you out. And now, 
sir, we have dinner at 6 o’clock, for 
Bud likes to have his dinner when he 
comes from the field instead of in the 
middle of the day, as he says he feels 
more like a gentleman. Until then, 
sir, I hope you rest well.” 
IT had not asked the question before, 
but now summoned the courage to 
pay: 
“Colonel, there is one little thing I 
should like to have settled. Business 
is business, you know,” I said, laugh- 
ing, for I did not like the look of dig- 
nity he suddenly assumed at the men- 
tion of business. ‘In justice to both 
of us I ought to ask you how much 
will be my board by the week.” 
Had General Oglethorpe himself aris- 
en to confront the colonel I do not 
think he could have shown more sur- 
prise than he did at my simple ques- 
tion. He drew himself up with a dig- 
nity which was truly commanding, 
and, speaking in a suppressed voice, he 
asked me: 
“When have the Turpins adopted the 
custom of taking money from their 
guests, I beg you to tell me, sir? If 
you were not a kinsman of my dear 
friends, the Palmers, I would at once 
show you the door.” 
I stood covered with confusion. “I 
humbly beg your pardon if I have of- 
fended you, colonel, and I am greatly 
mortified to have so deeply wounded 
you, but until this moment I thought 
you had been kind enough to receive 
me as a boarder. I felt grateful enough 
for that, and you should not put me 
under obligations which I can never re- 
pay and which I have no right to ac- 
cept. But you yourself are somewhat 
to blame,” I added quickly, for I saw 
that he was still deeply offended. “You 
told me that I might get board in one 
of the farmhouses and immediately 
offered me the hospitality of your 
roof.” 
“The Turpins are not farmers, sir; 
they are planters, and if we have to 
cook our own meals we serve them 
with no less degree of hospitality than 
when a nigger stood at each door at 
the beck and call of everybody in the 
room.” 
“Colonel Turpin, I hope you will for- 
give me my stupid blunder or else let 
me leave your house at once.” 
His face relented into a smile, and. 
extending his hand, he grasped mine. 
‘43 you say, lad, I am not blameless 
in the matter. But we are getting a 
little sensitive down here. And now 
forget all about it, and, what is more, 
don’t ever mention it to Ellen or to 
Bud, for they would think their old 
father had been lacking in dignity, else 
a mistake of this kind were impos- 
sible.”’ 
When he left me I fell a prey to re- 
grets over my stupid blunder and, what 
Beemed worse, My apparent deception 
concerning the relationship with the 
Kentucky Palmers, As long as I 
thought I was going to go to an inn of 
some kind or to pay my board I had 
not thought it worth while to explain 
the mistake into which the colonel had 
fallen. I felt it to be too late now to 
confess that in all likelihood there was 
no kinship at all or, if any, so remote 
as to form no ties of blood and cer- 
tainly not to earn for me any consider- 
ation on that score. WFeeling like a 
culprit, I threw myself on the bed, de- 
termined to Jeave the Pines at the first 
moment I could do so without offend- 
Ing my kind old host. 
When the pickaninny, Sam, knocked 
at my door to tell me that dinner was 
served he found me prepared to do 
justice to anything in the way of food 
which might be placed before me. I 
had been traveling all day, to all in- 
tents and purposes without anything 
to eat. While anxious to satisfy my 
hunger, yet it was with some feeling 
of embarrassment that I started down- 
stairs to meet the colonel. He met me 
at the foot of the steps and, motion- 
ing me to follow him, led me to a 
room in one of the side wings. There 
I saw two silver goblets, frosted on 
the outside, with their rims complete- 
ly hidden by long and graceful bunches 
of mint. Without sitting down he 
handed me one and took the other 
himself. 
“Of late years, Mr. Palmer,” he said, 
“we have abandoned the time honored 
custom of drinking mint juleps before 
our dinner, but in order that-you may 
feel perfectly at home and rest certain 
of the fact that I feel no resentment 
on account of your natural mistake I 
have taken the liberty of asking you 
to join me in one of these, sir,’ hold- 
Ing the goblet as if pledging my 
health. 
[To BE CONTINVED.] 
RN 
