"I am sorry, ma"am, but I reckon you"ll have to," Yancy spoke regretfully. "I expect I been a pa.s.sel of bother to you."
"No, you ain"t. Here"s d.i.c.k to see how you make out with the chicken,"
Polly added, as Cavendish presented himself at the opening that did duty as a door.
"This looks like bein" alive, stranger," he commented genially. He surveyed the group of which Yancy was the center. "If them children gets too numerous, just throw "em out."
"You-all ain"t told me yo" name yet?" said Yancy.
"It"s Cavendish. Richard Keppel Cavendish, to get it all off my mind at a mouthful. And this lady"s Mrs. Cavendish."
"My name"s Yancy--Bob Yancy."
Mr. Cavendish exchanged glances with Mrs. Cavendish. By a nod of her dimpled chin the lady seemed to urge some more extended confidence on his part. Chills and Fever seated himself at the foot of Yancy"s bed.
"Stranger, what I"m a-goin" to tell you, you"ll take as bein" said man to man," he began, with the impressive air of one who had a secret of great moment to impart; and Yancy hastened to a.s.sure him that whatever pa.s.sed between them, his lips should be sealed. "It ain"t really that, but I don"t wish to appear proud afo" no man"s, eyes. First, I want to ask you, did you ever hear tell of t.i.tles?"
Polly and the children hung breathlessly on Mr. Yancy"s reply.
"I certainly have," he rejoined promptly. "Back in No"th Carolina we went by the chimneys."
"Chimneys? What"s chimneys got to do with t.i.tles, Mr. Yancy?" asked Polly, while her husband appeared profoundly mystified.
"A whole lot, ma"am. If a man had two chimneys to his house we always called him Colonel, if there was four chimneys we called him General."
"La!" cried Polly, smiling and showing a number of new dimples. "d.i.c.k don"t mean militia t.i.tles, Mr. Yancy."
"Them"s the only ones I know anything of," confessed Yancy.
"Ever hear tell of lords?" inquired Chills and Fever, tilting his head on one side.
"No." And Yancy was quick to notice the look of disappointment on the faces of his new friends. He felt that for some reason, which was by no means clear to him, he had lost caste.
"Are you ever heard of royalty?" and Cavendish fixed the invalid"s wandering glance.
"You mean kings?"
"I sh.o.r.e do."
Yancy regarded him reflectively and made a mighty mental effort.
"There"s them Bible kings--" he ventured at length.
Mr. Cavendish shook his head.
"Them"s sacred kings. Are you familiar with any of the profane kings, Mr. Yancy?"
"Well, taking them as they come, them Bible kings seemed to average pretty profane." Yancy was disposed to defend this point.
"You must a heard of the kings of England. Sho", wa"n"t any of yo" folks in the war agin" him?"
"I"d plumb forgot, why my daddy fit all through that war!" exclaimed Yancy. The Cavendishes were immensely relieved. Polly beamed on the invalid, and the children hunched closer. Six pairs of eager lips were trembling on the verge of speech.
"Now you-all keep still," said Cavendish. "I want Mr. Yancy should get the straight of this here! The various orders of royalty are kings, dukes, earls and lords. Earls is the third from the top of the heap, but lords ain"t no slouch; it"s a right neat little t.i.tle, and them that has it can turn round in most any company."
"d.i.c.k had ought to know, fo" he"s an earl himself," cried Polly exultantly, unable to restrain herself any longer, while a mutter came from the six little Cavendishes who had been wonderfully silent for them.
"Sho", Richard Keppel Cavendish, Earl of Lambeth! "Sho", that was what he was! Sho"!" and some transient feeling of awe stamped itself upon their small faces as they viewed the long and limber figure of their parent.
"Is that mo" than a Colonel?" Yancy risked the question hesitatingly, but he felt that speech was expected from him.
"Yes," said the possessor of the t.i.tle.
"Would a General lay it over you any?"
"No, sir, he wouldn"t."
Yancy gazed respectfully but uncertainly at Chills and Fever.
"Then all I got to say is that I"ve traveled considerably, mostly between Scratch Hill and Balaam"s Cross Roads, meeting with all kinds of folks; but I never seen an earl afo. I take it they are some scarce."
"They are. I don"t reckon there"s another one but me in the whole United States."
"Think of that!" gasped Yancy.
"We ain"t nothin" fo" style, it bein" my opinion that where a man"s a born gentleman he"s got a heap of reason fo" to be grateful but none to brag," said Cavendish.
"d.i.c.k"s kind of t.i.tles are like having red hair and squint eyes. Once they get into a family they stick," explained Polly.
"I"ve noticed that, "specially about squint eyes." Yancy was glad to plant his feet on familiar ground.
"These here t.i.tles go to the eldest son. He begins by bein" a viscount,"
continued Chills and Fever. He wished Yancy to know the full measure of their splendor.
"And their wives are ladies-ain"t they, d.i.c.k?"
Cavendish nodded.
"Anybody with half an eye would know you was a lady, ma"am," said Yancy.
"Kep here is an Honorable, same as a senator or a congressman,"
Cavendish went on.
"At his age, too!" commented Yancy.
"And my daughter"s the Lady Constance," said Polly.
"Havin" such a mother she ain"t no choice," observed Yancy, with an air of gentle deference.