"Tell 'em about Amanthus."
"Amanthus," said Mrs. Jones, "was married at St. George's in London, yesterday, to Mr. Cyril Doe. A cable from Mrs. Harrison to her bank, which is Tuttle's bank, came to-day."
Amanthus had lived up to her business in life!
The whip touched the leader, the coach wheeled, everybody waved, and Culpepper was left standing there.
Auntie called to him from the door. She had seen him from the window and come down. He went in to her there on the doorstep and put his arm around her and kissed her.
"Ole Miss, what do you suppose, I've just been given to cherish most of everything in the world?"
"Are you in earnest, Culpepper, or teasing? I never know. I'm a bit unstrung, and so's Lavinia, over this trouble, whatever it is, hanging over Robert. What is it that's been given to you to cherish?"
She spoke with concern.
"Don't you worry, ole Miss, it's mine for cherishing, not yours. You're no worry. You belong to another generation in daughters of Shiloh that did your dancing in your vineyard according to custom, and have nothing to reproach your past with. The daughters of Shiloh to-day are declining to dance, ma'am, and are plucking the grapes in the vineyard instead. I need your coddling and your comforting. A daughter of Shiloh, among the dancers and the grapes, has handed me for my cherishing fruit of her gathering called a point of view."