"Who, Lije? Why, he went over home; don't think he's a goin' down with us--we don't need him. Now, jest set us out some of them cold snap beans an' a hunk of co'n bread, fur the wagon will be here putty soon." "Jasper," she said, blocking the way into the house, "your air deceivin' of me." He laughed and replied: "But even that wouldn't be half as bad as for folks to go away an' tell it about that you wouldn't give a couple of strangers nuthin' to eat." "That's true," she admitted, leading the way into the house. "I'll fry a couple of chickens." "Madam," said the commanding officer, "we are much obliged, but we'll not have time." "Yes, you will," she insisted. "I'm not goin' to have you go down there among all them gover'ment folks a tellin' that I didn't know how to treat anybody in my house. You air jest achin' fur that opportunity, but I'll see that you don't git it. Now you set down here an' wait." "You may riprisent the law," said Jasper to the officers, "but she stands for suthin' that's higher than all law--woman, an' I reckon you'll have to knock under." And they did, waiting patiently for Margaret as she bestirred herself in the kitchen; and when they went in and viewed the neatness of the meal, they thanked her and fell to with the appetite of soldiers. They had eaten and were thanking her when they heard the wagon rumbling down the hill. Margaret began to whimper, but the old man laughed at her; and when the two men respectfully turned away to give the prisoner and his wife a word together, he said to her: "For a long time, as you know, this thing has been a hangin' over me, like a cloud ready to shoot out its lightenin', an' I am thankful that it's about over with. You stay here an' be brave, an' I'll be back all right. Send word by somebody to Old Miz Barker, an' she'll be tickled to come an' stay with you an' talk till she makes you feel that they air goin' to hang me." "If you _was_ a goin' to be hung, Jasper, you'd fret me with it. I don't believe there's harm in these here men. They didn't hand-cuff you, that's a fact. An' jest see how they eat! I ain't afeared of no man that eats well at my table. So, now you go on an' do the best you kin, an' don't worry about me." He put his arms about her and kissed her on the forehead, and even when it was announced that the wagon was waiting, she did not waver, but bravely stood to her determination. The wagon drove off and Margaret lingered in the door, gazing; but Jasper did not look back, and so, over the hill he passed from her sight, as all things else had passed, for in the blindness of her tears it was as if dark night had fallen. She turned about and in her ears his words rang, and again strong-set to be brave, the misty night was winked away. Hearing the hum of the old negro's tuneful spirit, she called him and he came to the door. "Kintchin, they have taken Jasper." "Yas'm, an' da've tuck Lije Peters, too." "Why, Jasper said he wasn't goin'."