“Tell me what it’s all about.”

“You won’t say a word—will you?”

“Of course I won’t.”

“Not to mother, I mean, most of all.”

“Certainly not.”

“Squire Pemberton has been talking too loud for his own good.”

“I know that; he was in the store this forenoon, and Jeff Davis himself is no bigger traitor than he is.”

“Some of the people are going to make him a call to-night.”

“What for?”

“What do you suppose? Can’t you see through a millstone, Tom, when there is a hole in it?”