"
I sat and listened. One thing was joyously clear and plain to me.
They liked and trusted me enough now to talk about their own people
before me, which is the high sign of fellowship in South Carolina.
But learn, O outsider, that silence is golden, so far as _you_ are
concerned. Wisely did I hold my peace, and devoutly thank the Lord
that times had changed for the better.
For a great deal of that change I had to thank my dear girl, so much
more clever and tactful than I. And so I would not cloud her last
days with me by letting her see that I was unhappy. Only, I was glad
this afternoon to be by myself for a breathing-space. It rests one's
face occasionally to take off one's smile. I took off mine, then,
and let down the corners of my mouth.
The door leading to the hall was half open. The house was full of
blue-gray shadows, and had a drowsy hush upon it, a pleasanter hush
than it used to know. One heard the rushing wind outside, and above
it Mary Magdalen singing one of her interminable "speretuals."
A slinking shadow stole through the hall, a wary yellow head
appeared in the door, and Beautiful Dog sneaked into the room.
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