"No, Jasper, for she was the mother of soldiers."
Lije Peters came in, clearing his throat. Starbuck looked round at him and said: "An' Satan come also."
"Starbuck," Peters began, "I want to see you a minit, by yo'se'f."
"I don't know that I've got anythin' to say to you, Lije, but that door thar allus stands open, and I ain't in the habit of orderin' folks out of my house. Margaret, will you please go in thar?" he added, motioning with his head.
"But you won't have no trouble, will you, Jasper?"
"Trouble mostly comes to them that looks for it. I ain't lookin'."
Margaret went to the door, halted, looked back and then passed into the adjoining room. Starbuck sat on a corner of the table. Peters stood looking at him. Peters was much the larger man, and lifting at a handspike, in the clearing at a log-rolling, would have been stronger; but the bully, the half-coward, in combat, is rarely as strong as the brave man. The blood of courage case-hardens a muscle.
They looked at each other, these two men whose relationship, never agreeable, was nearing a crisis. Starbuck's voice was never softer than when he said: "Won't you sit down, Lije?"
"Hardly wuth while. Did the folks tell you that I was over here earlier in the day?"
"Nobody said anythin' about it, Lije. Couldn't have been very important—what you said to 'em on that occasion."