Bonnets and Bugles Series Books 1-5 by Gilbert Morris

Author:Gilbert Morris [Morris, Gilbert L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8024-8367-6
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 1995-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

7

A Southern Belle

A knock at the door startled Leah.

“Who can that be, I wonder?” she asked Uncle Silas. When she passed into the front room, she saw a rather fat young man standing on the porch. “Yes? What is it?” she asked.

“Your name Carter?”

“Yes, I’m Leah Carter. I live here with my uncle Mr. Silas Carter.”

The boy had a loose mouth, and he gave her a lazy grin. “I reckon this is for you then.”

Leah opened the screen door and took the envelope the young man handed her. He was around sixteen. He had a moon face with dirty brown hair that fell over his ears and a pair of muddy brown eyes.

“I see the haints ain’t got you yet.”

Leah was accustomed to people referring to the so-called haunted house she and her uncle lived in. “Thank you for the note,” she said stiffly.

“Oh, I better wait. You might want to send an answer.”

“Very well.” She closed the screen and went back to where Uncle Silas was waiting in the living room. “It’s a note addressed to you.” She stood watching while he opened it and saw his eyebrows go up.

“Well, I guess I’m going up in the world. This is a note from the Driscolls. They’re wealthy planters who live about three miles down the road at Briarwood Plantation. They’re having a party, and they want us to come.”

“A party!” Leah said raising her eyebrows. “With a war going on!”

Uncle Silas shook his head and smiled faintly. “I guess they’d have a party if the world was coming to an end tomorrow. The Driscolls are pretty fancy folks. We can’t go, of course.” Then, “Wait a minute, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you and Jeff go to that party? She says here in the note she’s especially interested in young people coming. She’s heard about you, I take it.”

“Oh, I couldn’t go, Uncle Silas. I wouldn’t know a soul. And anyway I’m not sure Jeff would be able to go.”

“Well, we’ll find out. Let me write a note to him. Is that boy outside the one who works for the Driscolls?”

“He didn’t say.”

“I expect it is. His name is Rufus Prather.” He shook his head, adding, “He’s the laziest human being I ever saw in my life. I guess he can take a note out to the camp for a dollar, though. Get the paper, will you, and pen and ink, and I’ll write to Jeff.”

A few minutes later Leah walked back to the door. “Is your name Rufus Prather?”

“Shore is. You can just call me Rufus, though.” He grinned and rolled his eyes. “Always glad to have another pretty girl to come to settle around here.”

Ignoring this, Leah gave him an envelope and a dollar. “My uncle wants to know if you’ll take this to the camp and see that it gets to Private Jeff Majors.”

“For a dollar? Well, I guess I will.” The boy took the dollar and the letter and stuck them into his shirt pocket.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.