Alas! at that moment Samuel's cracked and patched-up self-respect suddenly crumbled;--his presence of mind deserted him, and scrambling like an embarrassed boy into a marked discourtesy, he thrust both hands into his pockets. Instantly he realized his self-betrayal, but it was too late; his father, after a second's hesitation, occupied both his hands with the decanter and cigar-box. "Well; here we are, Benjamin!" said Dr. Lavendar. "Take a cigar," said the very old man; he held the box out, and it shook so that the loose cigars jarred within it. Dr. Lavendar helped himself. "Have one--" Benjamin Wright said, and thrust the box at the silent standing figure. "I--do not smoke." Samuel slid into a seat near the door, and balancing his hat carefully on his knees twisted one leg about the leg of his chair. His father bustled around to the other side of the table. "That doggoned nigger brought up Kentucky instead of Monongahela!" He lifted the decanter and began to fill the glasses. "Hold on! hold on! Don't swamp us," said Dr. Lavendar, He leaned over to rescue his tumbler, and his good-natured scolding made an instant's break in the intensity. "Have some?" said Mr. Wright, turning to his son. "I--do not drink." The banker uncoiled his leg, and put his hat on the floor. His father pounded the decanter down on the table. "Simmons!" he called out; "light the rest of these lamps, you--you freckled nigger! Gad-a-mercy! niggers have no sense." Simmons came stumbling in, the whites of his yellow eyes gleaming with excitement. While he was fumbling over the lamps, his lean brown fingers all thumbs, Benjamin Wright insisted upon filling Dr. Lavendar's tumbler with whiskey until it overflowed and had to be sopped up by the old minister's red bandanna. As soon as Simmons could get out of the room, Dr. Lavendar settled himself to the business which had brought them together. He said to his senior warden, briefly, that his father was concerned about Sam's attentions to Mrs. Richie; "he thinks it would be an especially good time to have the boy see a little of the world, if you will consent? He says it's 'narrowing to live in Old Chester," said Dr. Lavendar, slyly jocose;--but Samuel refused to smile, and the old minister went on with determined cheerfulness. "I think, myself, that it would be good for Sam to travel. You know 'Home-keeping youths Have ever homely wits.'" "A boy," said the senior warden, and stopped; his voice cracked badly and he cleared his throat; "a boy--Dr. Lavendar;--is better at home."