Before the company separated they began to talk even of a party, and, to meet the objections of old Mr. Langstaff and some others, it was agreed that it should be a contribution-entertainment and that the proceeds should go to the wounded soldiers and soldiers’ widows, of the county. This Steve declared was a deep-laid scheme on the part of Jacquelin Gray. It was already decided on when the Doctor returned to the sitting-room, after Mrs. Cary had summoned him thence, and the question under advisement was whether the Yankee officers at the court-house should be invited. Steve Allen had started it. The ladies were a unit. “No, indeed; not one of them should set his foot inside the door; not a girl would dance with one of them.” On this point Miss Blair was very emphatic, and her laughing eyes lost their gleam of sunlight and flashed forth a sudden spark which showed deeper depths behind those dark lashes than had appeared at any time before. “I’ll bet you do,” said Steve. He stretched out his long legs, settled himself, and looked at Blair with that patronizing air which always exasperated her. “I’ll bet I don’t!”—with her head up, and her color deepening a little at the bravado of using such a word. “I’ll bet my horse you’ll break a set with Jack for the Yankee captain,” declared Steve. “Don’t want your old horse, he’s too full of lead,” said Blair. “Then I’ll bet you his horse.” “It’s a good one,” said Jacquelin from his place on the lounge. “Blood-bay, with three white feet and a blaze on his nose.” “He’s mine,” asserted Steve with a nod of his head. “How will you get it?” asked Blair. “Steve knows several ways of getting horses,” laughed one of the other young men. “Shut up, you fool,” telegraphed Steve with his lips, glancing quickly at Miss Thomasia, who was beaming on him with kindly eyes. It is surprising what little things have influence. That sudden flash, with the firmer lines which came for a second in the young girl’s face, did more to bind the young men to her footstool than all the fun and gayety she had shown. The men were not so unanimous on the point touching the exclusion of the officers. Most of them agreed with the ladies, but one or two were inclined to the other side. “Men like to fancy themselves broader and more judicial than women,” said Miss Thomasia, placidly. Jacquelin mentioned casually that Middleton was not only quite a gentlemanly fellow, but a strikingly handsome one. “A Yankee soldier good-looking! I’ll not believe that!” declared Miss Blair, promptly. This debate created a diversion in their favor, and it was suggested and agreed to, as a compromise, that they should “wait until after a St. Ann Sunday, and see what the officers looked like. No doubt some of them would come to church, and then they could determine what they would do.”