"Superior feeling!" I muttered angrily, and I saw Miss Carter blush. Then stepping further out into view I caught Sam's eye in time to avert further trouble, for he had never been handled before by anyone—except, perhaps, myself.
"Go to the quarters, Sam," I cried, and as I did so I saw Harrison start at the sound of my voice and notice me.
I would have given something to have seen what Sam intended to do after that look,—for he was a big, black, powerful, hog-nosed nigger, capable of some little mischief—but the ladies being present, such intentions were, of course, impossible. Sam obeyed me instantly and went quickly toward the stables with his broad shoulders well squared and his head up, and Harrison continued on his way with my charming sister upon his arm.
"I suppose," I said, looking askance at Miss Carter, "this is the superior feeling of the governing class which we have just witnessed?"
"What would that black boy have done?" she said, in alarm. "I saw the look in his eyes that certainly meant more than disobedience."
"Oh, Sam is a true and trained Christian," I answered, somewhat nettled at the scene. "I taught him the doctrine of forbearance myself and I have seen him practice it to some advantage."
"And what was that?" asked Rose, sweetly, looking up at me with her lovely violet eyes that still showed traces of her alarm.
"Well, the last overseer I had was a man of superior feeling who belonged to the governing class—and he started to govern accordingly. He smote Sam savagely upon the side of his bullet head, one day, and knocked him down. Sam jumped up and rose to his full height, offering the other side of his head without so much as a word. The fellow, John Smith, struck him again, like a fool, and stretched Sam senseless for half an hour."