Yes, I know about that; though I think your father rarely came over into Albemarle." Under the circumstances I did not care to intrude my personal matters, so I did not mention the cause or explain the nature of my mission in the West.

"I suppose that you rarely came into our county either, but went down the Shenandoah when you journeyed to Washington ?" I said simply, "I myself have never met Colonel Meriwether." All this sudden acquaintance and somewhat intimate relation between us two seemed to afford no real pleasure either to Belknap or Orme.

For my part, with no clear reason in the world, it seemed to me that both Belknap and Orme were very detestable persons.

Had the framing of this scene been left utterly to me, I should have had none present at the fireside save myself and Ellen Meriwether.

All these wide gray plains, faintly tinged in the hollows with green, and all this sweeping sky of blue, and all this sparkling river, should have been just for ourselves and no one else.
But my opportunity came in due course, after all.