"With pleasure. I'll call father at once."
Barton was delighted at the announcement.
"Invite him to spend a week with us at Fairview," Jennie suggested.
"Good idea—we'll show him what Southern hospitality means!"
Burton grasped Socola's outstretched hand with enthusiasm.
"Permit me," he began in his grand way, "to extend you a welcome to the South. Your King is interested in our movement. It's natural. Europe must reckon with us from the first. Cotton is the real King. We are going to build on this staple an industrial empire whose influence will dominate the world. The sooner the political rulers realize this the better."
Socola bowed.
"I quite agree with you, Senator Barton. His Majesty King Victor Emmanuel has great plans for the future. He is profoundly interested in your movement. He does not believe that the map of Italy has yet been fixed. It will be quite easy to convince his brilliant, open mind that the boundaries of this country may be readjusted—"
"I shall be delighted to show you every courtesy within my power, sir," Barton responded. "You must go South with us to-morrow and spend a week at Fairview, our country estate. You must meet my grand old father and my mother and see the curse of slavery at its worst!"
Barton laughed heartily and slipped his arm persuasively about the graceful shoulders of his guest.