“Yes, yes; excellent woman,” agreed the other, with a suspicious look. “And ’Tana? How is she—the dear girl! I really have been much grieved to hear of her 270 illness; and at the earliest day I could leave my business I am here to inquire in person regarding her health.”
“Oh!” and Max struggled with a desire to laugh at the change in the captain’s attitude since ’Tana was a moneyed individual instead of a little waif. Poor ’Tana! No wonder she looked with suspicion on late-coming friends.
“Yes, she is better—much better,” he continued, as they walked up from the boat. “I suppose you knew that a cousin of Mrs. Huzzard, a lady from Ohio, has been with us—in fact, came up with our party.”
“So I heard—so I heard. Nice for Mrs. Huzzard. I was not in town, you know, when you rested at the Ferry. I heard, however, that a white woman had come up. Who is she?”
They had reached the tent, and Mrs. Huzzard, after a frantic dive toward their very small looking glass, appeared at the door with a smile enchanting, and a courtesy so nicely managed that it nearly took the captain’s breath away. It was the very latest of Lavina’s teachings.
“Well, now, I’m mighty—hem!—I’m extremely pleased that you have called. Have a nice trip?”
But the society tone of Mrs. Huzzard was so unlike the one he had been accustomed to hearing her use, that the captain could only stare, and before he recovered enough to reply, she turned and beckoned Miss Slocum, with the idea of completing the impression made, and showing with what grace she could present him to her cousin.
But the lately acquired style was lost on him this time, overtopped by the presence of Miss Lavina, who gazed at him with a prolonged and steady stare. 271
“And this is your friend, Captain Leek, of the Northern Army, is it?” she asked, in her very sharpest voice—a voice she tried to temper with a smile about her lips, though none shone in her eyes. “I have no doubt you will be very welcome to the camp, Captain Leek.”
Mrs. Huzzard had surely expected of Lavina a much more gracious reception. But Mrs. Huzzard was a bit of a philosopher, and if Lavina chose to be somewhat cold and unresponsive to the presence of a cultured gentleman, well, it gave Lorena Jane so much better chance, and she was not going to slight it.