“Vive la France and the State of Harpeth!  Behold, I am a spy!” I answered him as I drew myself to my greatest height and gave the salute which his old soldiers give to him at that raising of the banner of the Cause that he had lost in his youth.

“You young daredevil, you, I’m a great mind to break every bone in your body, as I have said before,” he said to me, but I could see a smile of pride making a lightning of the gloom in his countenance over the trouble of his affairs of state.  “You keep away from—­”

“Robert,” was the interruption made by my great beloved Gouverneur Faulkner, “upon you will fall the task of making the plans for the entertainment of this countryman of yours.  The General and I will be too busy getting-ready-to-meet-them-on-their-own-grounds to give any time to that.  Remember, they will have to be shown the best grazing land in the valley, in motor cars.  When they are done sizing us up, we’ll be ready for them.  The Count and his secretaries will, of course, be entertained at the Mansion and you can make arrangements at the hotel for the rest of the suite.  Also will you please instruct my servants, from Cato down, how to make them comfortable and, Robert, will you confer with Mrs. Whitworth, who, as the wife of the Treasurer of the State of Harpeth while neither the General nor I have wives, must be considered as the official social representative of the State, as to what form the official entertainments must take?” And as he asked that question of me my Gouverneur Faulkner did not so much as glance at my Uncle, the General Robert, who gave an exclamation of contempt in his throat as he began a reading of the two papers which I had handed to him.

“Also I suppose this means I must give up all hope of services from that fly-up-the-creek, Clendenning,” he grumbled as he read.

“I will do as you bid me, my Gouverneur Faulkner, in all things, and I will be much helped by both my excellent Buzz and the beautiful Madam Whitworth,” I made answer to the question and command given to me by the Gouverneur Faulkner, and as I mentioned the name of that lady I lowered my eyes to the floor and waited for my dismissal.  I did not want to look into his eyes, for I did not know even then if I might not find that Madam Whitworth there.  I only knew that whatever she did or was to him, his honor was inviolable.

“Well, get to it all,” commanded my Uncle, the General Robert.  “Get vouchers for what you spend and pay with State Department checks.  Don’t blow in a fortune, you young spendthrift, you, but also remember that the State of Harpeth is one of the richest in America and knows how to show France real hospitality.”

“That State of Harpeth has shown that hospitality to one humble youth of France, my Uncle Robert, who has a great gratitude,” I made answer to him as I laid my cheek upon the sleeve of his coat, which was of a cut in the best style for gentlemen of his age but always of that Confederate gray, likewise affected by good Cato.  Try as hard as Robert Carruthers will, he cannot force that Roberta, Marquise of Grez and Bye, at all times to refrain from a caress to the Uncle whom she so greatly loves.