"Fo' de Lawd!" cried Dicey, dropping a dish with a clatter. "Ain' you got no manners at all, runnin' round heah fo' a gemman wid nothin' more'n a jaybird on! I sees I'se got ter manage yer! Come heah and git up to yer room dis minit," and as the door closed after them Sargent heard the complaint growing louder and louder—"No mo' manners dan er jack-rabbit—dan er jack-rabbit!"
CHAPTER II
THE OPENED WOUND
In the afternoon of the next day, when the schoolroom had been closed, Sargent rode into the town. In his pocket he carried a letter which had come to him a few hours before, from Judge Houston.
"My most hearty congratulations," it ran, "I have heard from one of your compagnons de voyage, of your success. Are you ready for your first case? It is waiting for you. Come in this afternoon.
"FELIX HOUSTON."
His first case! Sargent read the delicate, painstaking chirography again and again. Could it be possible that he was to have a chance to plead before the bar, when his examinations were only a few days behind him!
He had received the note as he stood in the door of the little schoolhouse, with the sound in his ears of the children buzzing over their lessons, and as the full realization of its meaning swept over him, he pulled out the loud clanking watch his father had once brought him from the Bermudas, and impatiently counted the time that must elapse before he could know what the letter really meant.
It seemed hours before the time came to leave, and Zebediah stood at the door with a horse saddled and waiting for him.
"You've just come back, and you're going away already!" Natalia said plaintively, following him to the gate, her little hand clasped tight in his.