"What, in _Virginia?_" I asked with a smile, remembering his own description of the business habits of the people. "However, my dear sir, I will not promise to be over before two o'clock, for Bessy and I have really a great deal to talk of. She is my devisee, you know, Mr. Sheriff; and, of course, our business is very important--though I have some suspicion, my good friend," I continued, turning to Mr. Thornton, "that the clever arrangement we made for conveying all my right, title, interest, et c[ae]tera, to one Bessy Davenport, spinster, will have to be remodelled." "We shall see," answered Mr. Thornton, quite gravely. "At all events, our business is important," I urged. "Not half so important as that which waits us in the next room," cried the sheriff impatiently, "if these two women would but come. Now, I'll answer for it, that excellent sister of mine is making our dear little friend give her a true, full, and particular account of all that has occurred to her during the last week; totally forgetting those fried chickens we were talking of. Jack," he shouted aloud from the door, "go and throw down a large china dish at your mistress's door, to let her know that dinner is ready. Mind you break it all to pieces with a good smash." "Brother, brother, I am coming," cried his sister, who, of course, had heard the whole. "Don't be so foolish; the man might misunderstand you. Come, Bessy, my love, these voracious men are ravenous for their dinner." I must acknowledge that I certainly was ravenous for mine. Poor Bessy had every right to be hungry also; for we had not tasted any food since the preceding night. It is, indeed, wonderful, how agitation, alarm, or the eager activity of the mind, exercised in any way, will stay the cravings of appetite; and, at all events, it is not till a certain point is reached that hunger is at all felt when we are earnestly and vigorously employed. Oh, those two strange twins of Leda, mind and body, the godlike and the earthly! Though the one may rise when the other sets, the power of the one can always dominate over the other. In fear for her china dishes, the lady of the house very speedily entered the parlour, followed by Bessy, and we were soon seated at a comfortable and well-supplied country table, where everything that farm, garden, stream, and woodland could supply, was found in abundance. Nor to our appetites, purified by fasting, did anything seem over-cooked or under-cooked, although the sheriff, with less than his usual tact, decried some of the dishes as being too much done. "Well, my good friend," rejoined Mr. Thornton, "we have only to apologize to your sister, by saying we have spoiled her dinner by deviating a little from the straight road on our errand of charity. We went to see that great, big fellow, Hercules, who was shot by Robert Thornton yesterday morning; and when once there, Doctor Christy kept us to aid in all sorts of operations."