“He left a good deputy,” Macloud replied. “Croyden is well-born and well-bred (the former does not always comprehend the latter, these days), and of Southern blood on his mother’s side.”
“Which hasn’t hurt him with us!” she smiled. “We are a bit clannish, still.”
“Delighted to hear you confess it! I’ve got a little of it myself.”
“Southern blood?”
He nodded. “Mine doesn’t go so far South, however, as Croyden’s—only, to Virginia.”
“I knew it! I knew there was some reason for my liking you!” she laughed.
“Can I find any other reason?”
“Than your Southern ancestors?—isn’t that enough?”
“Not if there be a means to increase it.”
“Southern blood is never satisfied with some things—it always wants more!”