The old man made some timid protest, at his daughter's
action, But she answered; "The great ladies used to buckle the Chevalier
Bayard's spurs for him, and you're a great deal nicer than the Chev----
_You haven't any rubbers_! I don't believe _any_ of you have any rubbers!"
And not until both Fisbee and Mr. Schofield had promised to purchase
overshoes at once, and in the meantime not to step in any puddles, would
she let her father depart upon his errand. He crossed the Square with the
strangest, jauntiest step ever seen in Plattville. Solomon Tibbs had a
warm argument with Miss Selina as to his identity. Miss Selina maintaining
that the figure under the big umbrella--only the legs and coat-tails were
visible to them--was that of a stranger, probably an Englishman.
In the "Herald" office the editor turned, smiling, to the paper's
remaining vassal. "Mr. Schofield, I heard some talk in Rouen of an oil
company that had been formed to prospect for kerosene in Carlow County. Do
you know anything about it?"
Ross, surfeited with honor, terror, and possessed by a sweet distress at
finding himself tete-a-tete with the lady, looked at the wall and replied:
"Oh, it's that Eph Watts's foolishness."
"Do you know if they have begun to dig for it yet?"
"Ma'am?" said Ross.
"Have they begun the diggings yet?"
"No, ma'am; I think not.
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