‘Tom will have his joke, madam, but he’s not far from the truth.’

Seeing we were dripping wet, the lady offered us a change of clothing, and retiring to a chamber, we each appropriated a suit belonging to our host, giving our own to a servant to be dried.

Arrayed in the fresh apparel, we soon rejoined our friends in the sitting-room.  The new garments fitted the Colonel tolerably well, but though none too long, they were a world too wide for me, and, as my wet hair hung in smooth, flat folds down my cheeks, and my limp shirt-collar fell over my linsey coat, I looked for all the world like a cross between a theatrical Aminadab Sleek and Sir John Falstaff, with the stuffing omitted.  When our hostess caught sight of me in this new garb, she rubbed her hands together in great glee, and, springing to her feet, gave vent to a perfect storm of laughter—­jerking out between the explosions: 

‘Why—­you—­you—­look jest like—­a scare-crow.’

There was no mistaking that hearty, hoidenish manner; and seizing both of her hands in mine, I shouted:  ’I’ve found you out—­you’re a ‘country-woman’ of mine—­a clear-blooded Yankee!’

‘What! you a Yankee!’ she exclaimed, still laughing, ’and here with this horrid ‘seceshener,’ as they call him.’

‘True as preachin’, ma’am,’ I replied, adopting the drawl—­’all the way from Down East, and Union, tu, stiff as buckram.’

‘Du tell!’ she exclaimed, swinging my hands together as she held them in hers.  ’If I warn’t hitched to this ere feller, I’d give ye a smack right on the spot.  I’m so glad to see ye.’

‘Do it, Sally—­never mind me,’ cried her husband, joining heartily in the merriment.

Seizing the collar of my coat with both hands, she drew my face down till my lips almost touched hers, (I was preparing to blush, and the Colonel shouted, ‘Come, come, I shall tell his wife,’) but then, turning quickly on her heel, she threw herself into a chair, exclaiming, ’I wouldn’t mind, but the old man would be jealous;’ and adding to the Colonel, ’You needn’t be troubled, sir; no Yankee girl will kiss you till you change your politics.’

‘Give me that inducement, and I’ll change them on the spot,’ said the Colonel.

’No, no, Dave, ‘twouldn’t do,’ replied the planter, ’the conversion wouldn’t be genuwine—­besides, such things arn’t proper, except with blood-relations—­and all the Yankees, you know, are first-cousins.’

The conversation then subsided into a more placid mood, but lost none of its genial good-humor.  Refreshments were soon set before us, and while partaking of them I gathered from our hostess that she was a Vermont country-girl, who, some three years before, had been induced by liberal pay, to come South as a teacher.  A sister accompanied her, who, about a year after their arrival, had married a neighboring planter.  Wishing to be near the sister, our hostess