“It’s a habit he gibs hisse’f, ole mist’ess! Nuffin’ ’tall but a cussed, infunally habit he gibs hisse’f! And he ought to be broke ob it, if it breaks his neck! He to hab de darin’ impidence to take a rale gemman’s name an’ to go paradin’ up an’ down de yeth an’ roun’ an’ roun’ de worl’ a-deceivin’ ob young damsins like Miss Odilly an’ ole widdies like you—de owdacious willyun! Wot you reckon dey’ll do wid him, ole mist’ess?” Such were the comments and such was the question of Luce, after hearing the letter of Mrs. Force which the housekeeper of Mondreer, with her usually perfect openness, had read aloud to the colored cook. “Wot yer reckon dey gwine to do wid dat ’funally willyun, ole mist’ess?” again demanded Luce, seeing that the other woman was studying the letter in silence. “They’ll hang him! That’s what they’ll do with him. He’s been sent to England—in chains, I hope—and they’ll hang him! By all accounts they don’t fool with such people as we do. They hang ’em. And now, Luce, don’t you ever dare to call me by that devil’s name again! And if anybody else ever does call me so, I’ll sue ’em for slander and put the damages as high as the law allows!” exclaimed the housekeeper. “All yight, ole mist’ess. I won’t call yer dat. But wot mus’ I call yer?” “Call me Mrs. Wright. Wright is my right name, and I shall always write it so, for all of that marriage rite between me and that yonder beat.” “Jes’ so, ole mist’ess—I’ll ’membeh!” “It was my dear old man’s name, and I ought never to have changed it. And I never will again, so help me! And now, Luce, you and me has got to stir our stumps and make this house jamb, for there’s not only two weddings—and Lord knows one wedding makes fuss enough in a house!—but there’s a whole raft of foreign company coming to stay.” “I t’ought as dere was on’y two st’ange gemmen.” “Well, but one’s a lord and t’other a lion! And them two’s as much as a regiment! So look alive, nigger, and put your best foot first before the foreigners,” said the housekeeper, with vim. While active preparations were in progress at Mondreer, all the Grandieres, with Mrs. Hedge, little Rosemary and Miss Sibby Bayard, returned to the neighborhood. The sensational news they brought from Washington spread “like wildfire” through the county, and the capture of the _Kitty_ by the _Argente_; the taking of the _Argente_ by the _Eagle_; the detection of the true character of the adventurer whom they had known and lionized as Col. Angus Anglesea; the discovery of Roland Bayard’s parentage; the approaching marriage of Leonidas with Odalite, and of Roland with Rosemary—formed the topics of conversation at all the tea tables and in all the barrooms for many miles around. In the height of all this gossip, the Forces, with their two foreign guests, returned to Mondreer.