landlord's

[Baka Palmerton]

Were a little remarkable, come to think of it," answered Nick, settling
down into his saddle again. Indeed, the man's face had struck me so
forcibly that I was surprised out of an inquiry which I had meant to
make of him, namely, how far we were from the Saint-Gre plantation. We
pursued our way slowly, from time to time catching a glimpse of a
dwelling almost hid in the distant foliage, until at length we came to a
place a little more pretentious than those which we had seen. From the
road a graceful flight of wooden steps climbed the levee and descended
on the far side to a boat landing, and a straight vista cut through the
grove, lined by wild orange trees, disclosed the white pillars and
galleries of a far-away plantation house. The grassy path leading
through the vista was trimly kept, and on either side of it in the
moist, green shade of the great trees flowers bloomed in a profusion of
startling colors,--in splotches of scarlet and white and royal purple.
Nick slipped from his horse. "Behold the mansion of Mademoiselle de
Saint-Gre," said he, waving his hand up the vista. "How do you know?" I
asked. "I am told by a part of me that never lies, Davy," he answered,
laying his hand upon his heart; "and besides," he added, "I should
dislike devilishly to go too far on such a day and have to come back
again." "We will rest here," I said, laughing, "and send in Benjy to
find out." "Davy," he answered, with withering contempt, "you have no
more romance in you than a turnip. We will go ourselves and see what
befalls." "Very well, then," I answered, falling in with his humor, "we
will go ourselves." He brushed his face with his handkerchief, gave
himself a pull here and a pat there, and led the way down the alley. But
we had not gone far before he turned into a path that entered the grove
on the right, and to this likewise I made no protest. We soon found
ourselves in a heavenly spot,--sheltered from the sun's rays by a dense
verdure,--and no one who has not visited
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