Whately was taught another lesson concerning the beauties of
headlong action, while even his egotism was not proof against the
feeling that his cousin's straightforward fearlessness would baffle
all measures opposed to her sense of right. As for Perkins, he began
to fear as well as hate her, seeing her triumph again. The only
reward of his zeal had been Whately's words, "Get out of the way,
you fool." Thereafter, with the exception of the girl's scathing
words, he had been ignored. He had been made to feel that Ackley's
threats had a meaning for him as well as for the negroes, and that
if he needlessly provoked trouble again he would be confronted with
the stern old army surgeon. Having known Whately from a boy he stood
in little fear of him, but was convinced that he could not trifle
with Ackley's patience an instant. He now recognized his danger. In
his rage he had forgotten the wide difference in rank between the
girl he would injure and himself. The courtesy promptly shown to her
by Maynard and especially by the surgeon-in-chief taught him that
one whom he had scarcely noticed as she grew up a repressed,
brooding child and girl, possessed by birth the consideration ever
shown to a Southern lady.
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