"I knew you liked me, of course. And I like you--but I've never thought seriously about love."
"A little wizened-faced rat--the spider-snake! I could break his long neck. Yes--you do like him! I saw it when you met him. You're throwing me down because you met him!"
"But he shan't have you, I tell you--I'll show him I could lick a thousand such sissies with one hand tied behind me."
"Don't you dare to speak to me like that, sir--"
"You're going to see that fellow again--I'll bet you've got an engagement with him now--to-night--to-day!"
"I'll see him if I please--when I please and where I please and I'll not consult you about it, Dick Welford--Good day!"
Trembling with anger the big, awkward boy turned and stumbled out of the house.
Dick Welford had played directly into the hands of his enemy. When Socola called at the Barton home to pay his respects to Miss Jennie and wish them health and happiness and success in their new and dangerous enterprise, he found the girl in a receptive mood. The accusation of interest had stimulated her to her first effort to entertain the self-poised and gentlemanly foreigner.
He turned to Jennie with a winning appeal in his modulated voice:
"Will you do me a very great favor, Miss Barton?"
"If I can--certainly," was the quick answer.
"I wish to meet your distinguished father. He is a great Southern leader. I have been commissioned by the Sardinian Ministry to cultivate the acquaintance of the leaders of the Confederacy. I am to make a report direct to the Court of King Emmanuel on the prospects of the South."
"With pleasure. I'll call father at once."
Barton was delighted at the announcement.
"Invite him to spend a week with us at Fairview," Jennie suggested.
"Good idea--we'll show him what Southern hospitality means!"
Burton grasped Socola's outstretched hand with enthusiasm.
"Permit me," he began in his grand way, "to extend you a welcome to the South. Your King is interested in our movement. It's natural. Europe must reckon with us from the first. Cotton is the real King. We are going to build on this staple an industrial empire whose influence will dominate the world. The sooner the political rulers realize this the better."
"I quite agree with you, Senator Barton. His Majesty King Victor Emmanuel has great plans for the future. He is profoundly interested in your movement. He does not believe that the map of Italy has yet been fixed. It will be quite easy to convince his brilliant, open mind that the boundaries of this country may be readjusted--"