"I'll kill you or any other man who dares to say I did," he cried out, fiercely.
"If I hadn't known you didn't I would have seen you damned before I'd spoken to you," returned the Colonel; "but what I want to ask now is, what in--are you doing ?" "I'd like to know what business 'tis of yours!" "What in--are you doing, my boy ?" repeated the Colonel.
There was something ludicrous in the contrast between his strong language and his voice, into which had come suddenly a tone of kindness which was almost caressing.

Jerome, since his father's day, had heard few such tones addressed to him, and his proudly independent heart was softened and weakened by his anxiety and relief over Lucina.
"I am--working my fingers to the bone--to win her, sir," he blurted out, brokenly.
"Does she know it ?" "Do you think I would say anything to her to bind her when I might never be able to marry her ?" said Jerome, with almost an accent of wonder.
The Colonel whistled and said no more, for just then Belinda Lamb and Paulina Maria came up, holding their petticoats high out of the slush.
The two men walked on to Upham village, the Colonel straight, as if at the head of a battalion, though his lungs pumped hard at every step, holding back his square shoulders, protruding his tight broadcloth, swinging his stick airily, Jerome at his side, burdened like a peasant, with his sheaf of cut leather, but holding up his head like a prince..