Page:Maud Howe - Atlanta in the South.djvu/146

 other friends. The little woman seemed annoyed at finding Feuardent, and after a short visit took her leave, remarking that Margaret had a very disagreeable way of being a sort of standing reproach to all idle, harmless people like herself.

So the morning passed; and when they had all lunched together, Feuardent proposed that they should make an expedition to Lake Pontchartrain, dine there, and come home by moonlight. Margaret objected a little, but was easily persuaded; and once in the cars and on the way, gave herself up to the enjoyment of the scenery through which they passed. The road took them through a thick cypress-swamp, where the water stood in pools under the heavy growth of palmettoes and marsh-flowers. The death-moss, running riot everywhere, enwrapped the skeletons of the trees it had lived upon and stifled. Soon this dreary place was left behind, and they emerged upon a broad and pleasant plain, where a narrow bayou twisted its tortuous course through a country without sign of habitation save where a negro cabin, surrounded by a tiny patch of cultivated ground, broke the level stretch of green. Few pleasure-boats were seen upon the bayou, but a number of small craft, laden with fish and vegetables, made their way toward the city. When the light wind failed