“I’m not going to criticize him.” Hillhouse bit his white, unsteady lip. “A man’s a fool who tries to win by running down his rival. The way to run a man up in a woman’s eyes is to openly run him down. Men are strong enough to bear such things, but women shelter them like they do their babies. No, I wasn’t going to run him down, but I am afraid of him. When you go out driving with him, I——” Again Cynthia turned upon him and looked at him steadily, her eyes flashing. “Don’t go too far; you might regret it,” she said. “It is an insult to be spoken to as you are speaking to me.” “Oh, don’t, don’t! You misunderstand me,” protested the bewildered lover. “I—I am not afraid, you understand, of course, I’m not afraid you will not be able to—to take care of yourself, but he has so many qualities that win and attract women that—Oh, I’m jealous, Miss Cynthia, that’s the whole thing in a nutshell! He has the reputation of being a great favorite with all women, and now that he seems to admire you more than any of the rest——” The girl raised her eyes from the ground; a touch of color rose to her cheeks. “He doesn’t admire me more than the others,” she said tentatively. “You are mistaken, Mr. Hillhouse.” He failed to note her rising color, the subtle eagerness oozing from her compact self-control. “No, I’m not blind,” he went on, blindly building up his rival’s cause. “He admires you extravagantly—he couldn’t help it. You are beautiful, you have vivacity, womanly strength and a thousand other qualities that are rare in this section. Right here I want to tell you something. I know you will laugh, for you don’t seem to care for such things, but you know Colonel Price is quite an expert on genealogical matters. He’s made a great study of it, and his chief hobby is that many of these sturdy mountain people are the descendants of fine old English families, from younger sons, you know, who settled first in Virginia and North Carolina, and then drifted into this part of Georgia. He didn’t know of my admiration for you, but one day at the meeting of the Confederate Veterans at Springtown he saw you on the platform with the other ladies and he said: ‘I’ll tell you, Hillhouse, right there is a living proof of what I have always argued. That daughter of Nathan Porter’s has a face that is as patrician as any woman of English royal birth. I understand,’ the Colonel went on, ‘that her mother was a Radcliff, which is one of the best and most historic of the Virginia families, and Porter, as rough as he is, comes from good old English stock.’ Do you wonder, Cynthia, that I agree with him? There really is good blood in you. Your grandmother is one of the most refined and elegant old ladies I have ever met anywhere, and I have been about a good deal.”