With measured beat and slow,
Like the sexton ringing the village bell
When the evening sun——"
"Ramzee!" exclaimed madame, while the old nurse groaned: "Oh, Lawd 'a' massy!"
The girl rose, laughed, and flashed again: "Well, if Phyllis ain't white what is she? She's got to be something!"
"Yes," said the youth, "but not everything. I know her wrongs. But none of us, with whatever rights and wrongs, can have, or do, or be——"
"Oh, don't we know all that?" Ramsey turned to the grandfather and with sudden deference sprang to help him rise. He faced her and the Californian together.
"Miss Ramsey, Hugh has all your feelings in this matter."
Madame, "California," and old Joy eagerly assented.
"But poor, blundering old Mrs. Grundy, always wronging some one," the old man smilingly continued, "is really fighting hard for a better human race. That's the greatest battle she can fight, my dear young lady, and when——"