“She struggled to her feet, and stood supporting herself with one hand on the chair.  I could have killed her, Olivia!  She had been my father’s slave; if it had been before the war, I would have had her whipped to death.

“‘You are a thief,’ I said, ’and of that there are proofs.  I have caught you in the act.  The watch in your bosom is my own, the money belongs to Mr. Merkell’s estate, which belongs to my niece, his daughter Olivia.  I saw you steal them.  My word is worth yours a hundred times over, for I am a lady, and you are—­what?  And now hear me:  if ever you breathe to a living soul one word of this preposterous story, I will charge you with the theft, and have you sent to the penitentiary.  Your child will be taken from you, and you shall never see it again.  I will give you now just ten minutes to take your brat and your rags out of this house forever.  But before you go, put down your plunder there upon the desk!’

“She laid down the money and the watch, and a few minutes later left the house with the child in her arms.

“And now, Olivia, you know how I saved your estate, and why you should be grateful to me.”

Olivia had listened to her aunt’s story with intense interest.  Having perceived the old woman’s mood, and fearful lest any interruption might break the flow of her narrative, she had with an effort kept back the one question which had been hovering upon her lips, but which could now no longer be withheld.

“What became of the papers, Aunt Polly?”

“Ha, ha!” chuckled Mrs. Ochiltree with a cunning look, “did I not tell you that she found no papers?”

A change had come over Mrs. Ochiltree’s face, marking the reaction from her burst of energy.  Her eyes were half closed, and she was muttering incoherently.  Olivia made some slight effort to arouse her, but in vain, and realizing the futility of any further attempt to extract information from her aunt at this time, she called William and drove homeward.

XVI

ELLIS TAKES A TRICK

Late one afternoon a handsome trap, drawn by two spirited bays, drove up to Carteret’s gate.  Three places were taken by Mrs. Carteret, Clara, and the major, leaving the fourth seat vacant.

“I’ve asked Ellis to drive out with us,” said the major, as he took the lines from the colored man who had the trap in charge.  “We’ll go by the office and pick him up.”

Clara frowned, but perceiving Mrs. Carteret’s eye fixed upon her, restrained any further expression of annoyance.

The major’s liking for Ellis had increased within the year.  The young man was not only a good journalist, but possessed sufficient cleverness and tact to make him excellent company.  The major was fond of argument, but extremely tenacious of his own opinions.  Ellis handled the foils of discussion with just the requisite skill to draw out the major, permitting himself to be vanquished, not too easily, but, as it were, inevitably, by the major’s incontrovertible arguments.