asked Sally, her eyes no longer drooping, but opening wide.

"Prithee, why not?" questioned the Fairy. "How oft must I tell thee?"

A few nights after this, when July had come, and the black people,
bare-footed, bare-armed, dressed in but one or two cotton garments, went
sluggishly about their work, when gauzy-winged creatures droned midst
clumps of sweet flowers and heavy garden scents, when rich blossoms hung
in trailing abundance and the paths were carpeted with wild flowers,
when birds sang far into the twilight, Maid Sally more slowly than usual
went over to her rocky seat.

Some one was asleep in the arbor, for she could hear the hard breathing
of one in slumber. Then a book fell to the floor. Soon there was a
turning of leaves, and soon again some one else entered the arbor.

"Ah, Rosamond," began a voice well known, "had you come a moment sooner,
a drowsy lord you would have found."

"Beshrew the idea of a lord of sixteen!" cried Rosamond, pettishly.
"Where is the sense in leaving home and sailing away to another land to
study what could be very well learned right here, and the better to look
into troubles that may never come?"

"I must fit myself in the very best way for the future," manfully
answered the lad.

"And prithee, are there not fields to till, crops to watch, and hands to
guide, that one must fly across the ocean in search of usefulness?"

"My father is able to look after his fields, his crops, and his
servants, cousin Rosamond, and it was a fine course of study that fitted
him to be the man he is. And thankful I am that he hath both means and
the willingness wherewith to fit me to follow in his footsteps."

"We have had many pleasant times together," sighed Rosamond.

"As boy and girl, yes. I go now to prepare myself to take a man's place
in affairs, would'st hinder me?"

"Yes!" snapped Rosamond. "I would indeed!"

She was a petted beauty, this Rosamond, and being seventeen was both
much admired and sought after.

"Yes," she repeated, "I would hinder you from such folly! You have been
well taught already. Here is our own William and Mary College, no mean
place of learning; why is it not fully good enough, pray tell me?"

"I seek helps of all kinds, my cousin, and would study midst the
treasures and libraries of the Old World, nor can any one hinder me."

"Then will I turn my thoughts another way," said Rosamond, "and that
will not please your mother."

There was no reply.

"What