“You-all must ’scuse me. Reckon I’ve sure enough been asleep. I’m used ter goin’ to bed with the birds an’ gittin’ up with the sun. I reckon I’m a-goin’ to bed now. You’ll ’scuse me, Mr. Lockwood, sir. You young folks stay up long’s you want to. Good night, sir.”
He went indoors, yawning. But the thread of confidence was broken, and a not quite comfortable silence ensued.
“I have to be up at daylight, too,” Lockwood said at last. “So I reckon I’d better slip quietly away without disturbing the card party.”
The girl did not make any objection. She arose as he did.
“Well, I hope you’ll come again to see us,” she said, just a little hesitantly. “You must get to know the boys better. You know, they’ve both taken a great liking to you.”
“I like them both immensely,” Lockwood assured her sincerely.
“The fact is,” she went on, “I do hope you get to be friends with them. I think it would be good for them to have you for a friend. You’ll think it’s strange for me to say this, but after all we’ve known each other a long time—in New Orleans. You see, Mr. Hanna is the only friend we have here who knows anything of the world. I know far more than the boys do, but, of course, I’m only their sister, and they wouldn’t take my opinion on anything. But Mr. Hanna——”
“You don’t trust his opinion?”
“No—no! I don’t say that. But still, two opinions are always better than one, and I’d like the boys to get your view of things. We can’t have too many friends, anyway.”
“I’ll certainly be delighted if your brothers will count me a friend,” said Lockwood. “I hope that you, too, will count me so?”