"Mr. Ravenel, sir! I see no ruin; I——"
"Don't you? Well, then, the ruin you don't see."
"Oh, sir, you speak in irony! I see a character——"
"Yes "—the speaker dug idly in the sand—"all character and no principles. But you don't want John to be all principles and no character? He ought to be going to school, Judge." The father dropped his eyes in pain, but the young man spoke on. "Going to school is a sort of first lesson in citizenship, isn't it?—'specially if it's a free school. Maybe I'm wrong, but I wish Dixie was full of good, strong free schools."
"You're not wrong, Mr. Ravenel! You're eminently right, sir."
Mr. Ravenel only smiled, was silent for a while, and then said, "But even if it were—I had an impression that you thought you'd sort o' promised John to Rosemont?"
The Judge straightened up, distressed. "Mr. Ravenel, I have! I have, sir! It's true; it's true!"
"I don't think you did, Judge, you only expressed an intention."
But the Judge waived away the distinction with a gesture.
"Judge," said the young man, slowly and gently, "wouldn't you probably be sending John to Rosemont if Rosemont were free?"