"Please do; and with your permission I'll take a little walk, for
I, too, am restless from inaction."
"I don't think it's nice for you to read alone with that officer," said Roberta.
"I see no impropriety at all," cried Suwanee. "Yours and mamma's rooms are but a few yards away, and you can listen to all we say if you wish. If your colonel was sick and wounded at the North wouldn't you like some woman to cheer him up?"
"No, not if she were as pretty as you are," replied Roberta, laughing.
"Nonsense," said Suwanee, flushing. "For all I know this captain is married and at the head of a large family.
"But I'm going to find out," she assured herself. "I shall investigate this new species of genus homo who imagines me to be a saint. He wasn't long in proving that Northern men were not what I supposed. Now I shall give him the harder task of proving me to be an angel;" and she walked demurely in, leaving the door open for any espionage that her mother and sister might deem proper.
Lane's face lighted up the moment he saw her, and he said: "You have robbed this day of its weariness already. I've had agreeable anticipations thus far, and I'm sure you will again leave pleasant memories."
"Then you are better?"
"Yes; thanks to you."
"You are given to compliments, as our Southern men are."