He stood crimson but dauntless under the shrieks of laughter which followed his speech. Carolina’s face was very rosy also, and she was seen to steal a mischievous glance at Moultrie La Grange, which somehow set his heart to beating with hope. She put her arm around Bob and kissed him on the forehead before them all. "Bob, dear, it is too soon," she whispered, consolingly. "You know I said if you wanted me in ten years and I was still unmarried--" "Oh, but Cousin Carol!" cried the boy, "you are so beautiful that unless you promise to wait for me you are sure to be snapped up. Father said so." An added wave of colour flew to Carolina’s face, and she hid her face in the boy’s shoulder, when, to her surprise, she heard the voice of Col. Wayne Yancey saying: "Bob, my boy, if she should promise you, you’d have to fight me, and fight me to the death." Bob looked at him, and stiffened. "Are you after her, too?" he cried, angrily. "I’ve been after her longer than you have. And I’m not the only one." Bob turned despairingly to his father. "How many does that make?" he roared. The laughter of the grown people passed unheeded. "Never mind, son," said his father. "Colonel Yancey’s name completes the list. There isn’t another bachelor or widower left in South Carolina. It’s just the way the girls used to treat me, son, but afterward I met your mother and she made everything all right." The boy flew to his father’s side, and hid his head. "Girls are all alike, son. You’ll have to bear it. We all have to. Turn around here and ask your Uncle De Courcey why he is a bachelor. Ask your mother how many boys she flirted with before I came along. Be a man. Look there at Emmeline and Gladys and--" Bob burst away with a roar of pain. "Emmeline is about right for Teddy!" he exclaimed, in wrath. "I want a grown woman. I don’t want anybody but Miss Carolina Lee. Moultrie knows how it is, don’t you, Moultrie? When you’ve once loved a girl like Carolina, how would you like it to be told to take up with anybody else?" "I just wouldn’t do it, that’s all!" said Moultrie, looking squarely at Carolina. "Bob," said Carolina, severely, "you are embarrassing Mr. La Grange and me dreadfully. Won’t you please go back to your place and make me feel that I can depend upon you to protect me instead of exposing me to laughter like this?" The boy’s eagle glance flew from one convulsed face to another. Then he showed his blood. He came to Carolina’s side, and put his arms around her neck and kissed her cheek, whispering: "I’ll never speak of it again. They can laugh if they want to, but some day you’ll remember that I behaved when you asked me to." He went back to his seat and Carolina looked at Emmeline, and both little ladies rose from the heads of their tables and led the way to the drawing-room.