IN THE SHADOW
won't work unless they're made to, and then only at their own convenience, without any reference to yours. They are the curse of that country, Giles."
"But what other form of labor could stand the climate?" asked Virginia.
"Italians from the Campagna, Japs, Chinese, Javanese, Hindoos, even our new citizens in the Philippines. But if we imported them, we'd have to feed the negroes just the same; if they can earn a part of their living, it's cheaper for us to let them. You and Giles play a set, Sis," Manning concluded. He detested the topic of the negro, and avoided it as much as possible.
Giles clambered to his feet with strong awkwardness; Virginia, lithe, supple, graceful as an ocelot, was in the court before him, and the game began, Giles's handicap being the double court, while Virginia played within the single lines. Manning, from the players' bench, the blackest of Havana cigars clinched between his even teeth, watched them thoughtfully.
A fair inheritance had been evenly divided between the brother and sister; it would be hard to say which had shared more fully. Manning had drawn the head, Virginia the heart; Manning made money, Virginia friends. Now, as he smoked and watched and brooded, his tawny eyes, a shade lighter than his sister's, rested pridefully upon her and kindled with ambition as they swept to Giles, looming as he did against the ancient background of his ancestral home, the park of oaks, the towers, and the thin, cold, aristocratic sunlight. Manning felt that he had done his duty by his orphan sister; remained, the fulfillment of her duty to him.
8
