The Colonel was silent a moment.
"Well, for those who like that kind of book—it's the kind of book they will like."
"Exactly!" Ruffin cried, slapping his knee with a blow that bruised it. "And you're the man in all the South to tell the fool who likes that sort of book just how big a fool he is!"
Lee opened the volume again and turned the pages slowly.
"Ruffin, I don't read many novels—"
He paused as if in deep study.
"But this one I have read twice."
"I'm glad you did, sir," the planter snapped.
"And I must confess it stunned me."
"Stunned you?"