There came a tap at the door--a house-maid come to tell us that if we did not stop talking Old Miss would come in and whip us. We whispered and giggled a long time, and then Bob fell asleep, and I lay there thinking of the white roses that had scented the parlor. It must have been very late for the lights were out everywhere, when I heard voices on the walk just below my window. I looked out cautiously and in the moonlight I saw Old Master and Dr. George Bates. Master was walking up and down, but the doctor stood still. "I want you to understand this," said the old man. "You are at perfect liberty to stay here as long as you choose--and I will feed you and clothe you, but you must have nothing whatever to say about the running of my affairs. You are constantly meddling with things that don't concern you." "General, it is not my intention to interfere, I assure you." "But you do," said Old Master, making an emphatic motion. "You seem to think that I ought to divide my property with you. Get that out of your head as soon as you can." "It has never been in my head, General. I merely suggested that if you would give me Dan I would take him and go South." "Give you Dan! Confound it, haven't I told you that he belongs to Bob?" "Yes, but I didn't know but you gave him away just as a man sometimes gives a colt to a boy--merely to claim." "I don't give things that way, sir." "I know, but your wife--" "There, that will do." "She said that she thought that you might be induced--" "Didn't I say that would do?" "Yes, sir, but let me finish, if you please. Of course you know that my wife's share, whatever it may amount to, will fall to me?" "Yes, if I so desire it, sir." "But I know you well enough to feel that you won't refuse me." "Now you are presuming upon my kindness, sir." "No, sir; I am paying a tribute to your sense of justice. And now this is what I have agreed to do: to take Dan and wait until you are ready--" "You have agreed with whom, sir?" Old Master broke in. "Oh, I don't know that it was exactly an agreement. I had a talk with your wife, and--" "Infamous puppy!" Old Master cried, shaking his fist in the doctor's face. "Didn't I tell you that you'd gone far enough in that direction?" "General," said the doctor, stepping back, "you have insulted me." Old Master snorted. "Oh, I have insulted you, have I? Then I have done something that I thought must be impossible. Listen to me. You came here a beggar, with a doctor's sheep-skin under your arm; you are of a good family--that I will not deny. But I say you came a beggar, and you won my child--how, God only knows. You told me that you would practice medicine on the plantation after you were married, but did you?" "Why, yes, sir; I have attended many a case. You know one very well."