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“Warn’t you-uns apologizin’ ter me t’other day fur not bein’ a nephew ‘stiddier a niece? Looked sorter like a nephew ter-night.”

She shook her head, covered now only with its own charming tresses waving in thick undulations to the coil at the nape of her neck–a trifle dishevelled from the rude haste with which the cap had been torn off.

Roxby had seated himself, and with his elbows on his knees he looked up at her with a teasing jocularity, such as one might assume toward a child.

“Ye war,” he declared, with affected solemnity–“ye war ‘pologizin’ fur not bein’ a nephew, an’ ‘lowed ef ye war a nephew we could go a-huntin’ tergether, an’ ye could holp me in all my quar’ls an’ fights. I been aging some lately, an’ ef I war ter go ter the settlemint an’ git inter a fight I mought not be able ter hold my own. Think what ‘twould be ter a pore old man ter hev a dutiful nephew step up an'”–he doubled his fists and squared off–“jes’ let daylight through some o’ them cusses. An’ didn’t ye say”–he dropped his belligerent attitude and pointed an insistent finger at her, as if to fix the matter in her recollection–“ef ye war a nephew ‘stiddier a niece ye could fire a gun ‘thout shettin’ yer eyes? An’ I told ye then ez that would mend yer aim mightily. I told ye that I’d be powerful mortified ef I hed a nephew ez hed ter shet his eyes ter keep the noise out’n his ears whenst he fired a rifle. The tale would go mighty hard with me at the settlemint.”

The girl’s eyes glowed upon him with the fixity and the lustre of those of a child who is entertained and absorbed by an elder’s jovial wiles. A flash of laughter broke over her face, and the low, gurgling, half-dreamy sound was pleasant to hear. She was evidently no more than a child to these bereft old people, and by them cherished as naught else on earth.

“An’ didn’t I tell you-uns,” he went on, affecting to warm to the discussion, and in reality oblivious of the presence of the guest’–“didn’t I tell ye ez how ef ye war a nephew ‘stiddier a niece ye wouldn’t hev sech cattle ez Em’ry Keenan a-dan-glin’ round underfoot, like a puppy ye can’t gin away, an’ that won’t git lost, an’ ye ain’t got the heart ter kill?”

The girl’s lip suddenly curled with scorn. “Yer nephew would be obligated ter make a ch’ice fur marryin’ ‘mongst these hyar mounting gals–Par-mely Lepstone, or Belindy M’ria Matthews, or one o’ the Windrow gals. Waal, sir, I’d ruther be yer niece–even ef Em’ry Keenan air like a puppy underfoot, that ye can’t gin away, an’ won’t git lost, an’ ye ain’t got the heart ter kill.” She laughed again, showing her white teeth. She evidently relished the description of the persistent adherence of poor Emory Keenan. “But which one o’ these hyar gals would ye recommend ter yer nephew ter marry–ef ye hed a nephew?”

She looked at him with flashing eyes, conscious of having propounded a poser.

He hesitated for a moment. Then–“I’m surrounded,” he said, with a laugh. “Ez I couldn’t find a wife fur myself, I can’t undertake ter recommend one ter my nephew. Mighty fine boy he’d hev been, an’ saaft-spoken an’ perlite ter aged men–not sassy an’ makin’ game o’ old uncles like a niece. Mighty fine boy!”

“Ye air welcome ter him,” she said, with a simulation of scorn, as she turned away to the table.

Whether it were the military cap she had worn, or the fancied resemblance to the young soldiers, never to grow old, who had gone forth from this humble abode to return no more, there was still to the guest’s mind the suggestion of the vivandiere about her as she set the table and spread upon it the simple fare. To and from the fireplace she was followed by two or three of the younger dogs, their callowness expressed in their lack of manners and perfervid interest in the approaching meal. This induced their brief journeys back and forth, albeit embarrassed by their physical conformation, short turns on four legs not being apparently the easy thing it would seem from so much youthful suppleness. The dignity of the elder hounds did not suffer them to move, but they looked on from erect postures about the hearth with glistening eyes and slobbering jaws.