The  quarrel  between  the  children  had  not  existed
long  when  Mrs.  Sterne  called  upon  Cassia  about  it.
In  her  eagerness  she  called  an  hour  too  soon.  Cassia
had  a  nervous  headache,  she  was  disturbed  in  her
siesta,  and  had  to  go  down  stairs  to  her  visitor  after
a  hurried  and  unsatisfactory  toilet.  The  visit  was  an
unpleasant  one ;  Cassia's  reserve  and  politeness  pre-
vented any  thing  like  a  quarrel,  but  the  offense  was
really  deepened  instead  of  explained  away.  Mrs.
Sterne  made  her  husband  feel  with  her  the  real
or  the  imaginary  slights  she  had  suffered.  Sterne
had  his  own  experiences  to  put  to  hers ;  and  when
the  women  and  children  of  two  families  are  at  en-
mity, it  is  almost  impossible  for  the  men  to  remain
long  neutral.  Ray  perceived  that  the  end  was  com-
ing between  himself  and  Sterne,  and  he  was  not
sorry ;  the  unfathomable  meanness  of  the  man's  char-
acter, his  jealousy  and  suspicions,  had  become  hard
15


226          THE  LOST  SILVER  OF  BRIFFAULT.
to  tolerate.  He  was  only  anxious  to  find  some  way
of  carrying  on  the  business  he  had  built  up,  when
Sterne's  money  should  be  withdrawn.
One  night  he  camped  in  the  same  grove  with  the
sutlers  of  two  cavalry  companies  who  were  going  to
San  Antonio  for  stores.  After  supper  the  men  took
out  a  pack  of  cards,  and  were  soon  gambling  desper-
ately. Ray's  heart  throbbed,  his  face  paled  and
flushed,  and  his  hands  were  almost  beyond  control.
Crib,  an  old  Negro  who  had  followed  Bay  in  all  his
wanderings,  and  who  knew  all  his  weakness,  watched
the  struggle  with  a  sinking  heart.
