His hair was stiff and
rather red, his eyes were pale blue, his face was freckled, and the
skin of his neck had a way of folding itself unattractively. He wore
thick cow-leather shoes, which he never blacked, but greased
frequently, and that made them catch and hold the dust. He never
considered himself carefully dressed unless all the buttons of his vest
were unfastened, except one at the top and one at the bottom. The gap
between the two buttons was considered quite a touch of rural style.
He held the reins, but a little negro boy sat on the seat beside him.
He was taking the boy to hold his horse while he went into the hotel
after Harriet. That, too, was considered quite the proper thing--a
custom which had come down from slavery days--and as there was a
scarcity of black boys in the village, Bates had brought his all the
way from his father's plantation. The boy was expected to walk back
home after the couple got started, but Bates intended to give him
something for his trouble, and the distinction of holding Mr. Bates's
horse in town was something the boy never expected to forget.
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