ing after them) I shall go to her myself to-morrow.
My little daughter! A stately woman now, but always my
little daughter! (Starts into the house, pausing on steps)
Poor Edgar! How he is misjudged! (Goes in)

(Zurie, Tat following, comes out of the side door and sets
to work digging up a shrub)

Zu. (Muttering) Wha' Mis' Clemm gwine ter say ter all dem
young ladies comin' heah fo' de picnic? An' who gwine ter
eat dem pies Zurie been two days makin'? An' sech a poun'
cake! It ought to be a weddin' cake, deed it ought! (Bony
comes out of kitchen with a knife in his hand) Heah,
niggah, gimme up dat knife an' don' be so slow-back! Dis
heah bush done grow an' bloom till yo' get heah!

(Enter Poe, left, singing)

Old winter is a lie
As every spring doth prove,
And care is born to die
If we but let in love--

Hey Mum Zurie, what are you doing?

Zu. I's diggin', honey.

Poe. That rosebay is the most graceful shrub in the yard. You
kill one leaf of it, if you dare!

Zu. Miss Virginia she say how her bru'r Edgah lub dis heah
tree, an' she want it under her window.

Poe. Oh! Can't I help you, Zurie? Tenderly now!

Zu. Miss Babylam' ax me to move it yistiddy but I don't git no
time, an' I ain' gwine to leab it now jes cause she's gone
away.

Poe. Gone away?

Zu. O Lawd, I forgot you don' know! Why, honey, Mars Nelson he
come jes now an' frisk her off to school. Zip! an'
Babylam' gone! An' law, ef you seen dat po' chile cryin'!

Poe. She cried, Zurie?

Zu. Deed she did, and she ax me twenty hundred times to tell
her bru'r Edgah goodbye.

Poe. Virginia gone?

Zu. I done tol' yo, Mars Edgah! Sho' yo' don't think ol' Zurie
know how ter tell lies, does yo', honey?

Poe. No, Zurie, I know she is gone. The birds have all stopped
singing.

Zu. Law, Mars Edgah, dey jes be a chipperin'! Heah dat now?

Poe. That is not a song, Zurie. It is a wail from Stygian
boughs.

Zu. O, yo' go way!

Poe. Gone! I'll not permit it! My aunt must bring her back!
(Hurries into house)

Zu. Wha' make him ac' so now? An' w