"No, I were fourteen. That hain't young--my maw, she married at twelve, and had sixteen in family. I never had but a small mess of young-uns,--eight,--and they're all married and gone, or else dead, now, and me and Lot left alone. Where's your man while you traveling the country this way?" "I have no man--I'm not married." "What?" demanded Aunt Ailsie, as if she could not have heard aright. "I have no husband--I am not married," repeated the stranger. Aunt Ailsie stared, dumb, for some seconds before she could speak. "Twenty-eight, and hain't got a man!" she then exclaimed. She looked Virginia all over again, as if from a new point of view, and with a gaze in which curiosity and pity were blended. "I never in life seed but one old maid before, and she was fittified," she remarked tentatively. "Well, at least I don't have fits," laughed Virginia. Lost in puzzled thought, Aunt Ailsie turned to the books. "What did you fotch them up here for?" she asked. "For people to read and enjoy." "They won't do me no good,"--with a sigh,--"nor nobody else much. I hain't got nary grain of larning, and none of the women-folks hain't got none to speak of. But a few of the men-folks they can read: my man, he can,"--with pride,--"and maybe some of the young-uns." A collection of beautifully colored sea-shells next claimed her attention; and then Virginia adjusted a stereopticon before her eyes, and for a long time she was lost in wonderful sights. At last, when she was again conscious of her surroundings, her eyes fell upon Fult's dark head near-by, close to Aletha Lee's fair one, both bent over pieces of sewing, while Lethie's baby brother, her constant charge, played on the floor between them. "If there hain't my Fulty, jest like he said," she exclaimed joyfully. "And I made sure he was lying to me. Hit shore is a sight for sore eyes, to see him with sech a harmless weepon in hand! Does he behave hisself that civil all the time?" "Yes, indeed--always." A sudden cloud fell upon Aunt Ailsie's face. "As I come up," she said, "I seed Darcy Kent there in the cook's house. Hit wouldn't never do for him and Fulty to meet here on the hill. They hain't hardly met for two year without gun-play." "Oh, I'm sure they'd never do such things in our presence!"