THE HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS

BY

CHARLES W. CHESNUTT

CONTENTS

I [A STRANGER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA]
II [AN EVENING VISIT]
III [THE OLD JUDGE]
IV [DOWN THE RIVER]
V [THE TOURNAMENT]
VI [THE QUEEN OF LOVE AND BEAUTY]
VII ['MID NEW SURROUNDINGS]
VIII [THE COURTSHIP]
IX [DOUBTS AND FEARS]
X [THE DREAM]
XI [A LETTER AND A JOURNEY]
XII [TRYON GOES TO PATESVILLE]
XIII [AN INJUDICIOUS PAYMENT]
XIV [A LOYAL FRIEND]
XV [MINE OWN PEOPLE]
XVI [THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT]
XVII [TWO LETTERS]
XVIII [UNDER THE OLD REGIME]
XIX [GOD MADE US ALL]
XX [DIGGING UP ROOTS]
XXI [A GILDED OPPORTUNITY]
XXII [IMPERATIVE BUSINESS]
XXIII [THE GUEST OF HONOR]
XXIV [SWING YOUR PARTNERS]
XXV [BALANCE ALL]
XXVI [THE SCHOOLHOUSE IN THE WOODS]
XXVII [AN INTERESTING ACQUAINTANCE]
XXVIII [THE LOST KNIFE]
XXIX [PLATO EARNS HALF A DOLLAR]
XXX [AN UNUSUAL HONOR]
XXXI [IN DEEP WATERS]
XXXII [THE POWER OF LOVE]
XXXIII [A MULE AND A CART]

THE HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS

I

A STRANGER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA

Time touches all things with destroying hand; and if he seem now and then to bestow the bloom of youth, the sap of spring, it is but a brief mockery, to be surely and swiftly followed by the wrinkles of old age, the dry leaves and bare branches of winter. And yet there are places where Time seems to linger lovingly long after youth has departed, and to which he seems loath to bring the evil day. Who has not known some even-tempered old man or woman who seemed to have drunk of the fountain of youth? Who has not seen somewhere an old town that, having long since ceased to grow, yet held its own without perceptible decline?