ere upon airth is
she?"

"Let's go to her first," said 'Lena, and leading the way Anna soon
ushered her into her grandmother's room which, child as she was,
'Lena readily saw was far different from the handsome apartments of
which she had obtained a passing glance.

But Mrs. Nichols had not thought of this--and was doubtless better
satisfied with her present quarters than she would have been with the
best furnished chamber in the house. The moment her granddaughter
appeared, she exclaimed, "'Leny Rivers, where have you been? I was
worried to death, for fear you might be runnin' after some of them
paltry niggers. And now whilst I think on't, I charge you never to
go a nigh 'em; I'd no idee they were such half-naked, nasty critters."

This prohibition was a novelty to Anna, who spent many happy hours
with her sable-hued companions, never deeming herself the worse for
it. Her grandmother's first remark, however, struck her still more
forcibly, and she immediately asked, "Grandma, what did you call
'Lena, just now? 'Lena what?"

"I called her by her name, 'Lena Rivers. What should I call her?"
returned Mrs. Nichols.

"Why, I thought her name was 'Lena Nichols; ma said 'twas," answered
Anna.

Mrs. Nichols was very sensitive to any slight cast upon 'Lena's
birth, and she rather tartly informed Anna, that "her mother didn't
know everything," adding that "'Lena's father was Mr. Rivers, and
there wasn't half so much reason why she should be called Nichols as
there was why Anna should, for that was her father's name, the one by
which he was baptized, the same day with Nancy Scovandyke, who's jest
his age, only he was born about a quarter past four in the morning,
and she not till some time in the afternoon!"

"But where is Mr. Rivers?" asked Anna more interested in him than in
the exact minute of her father's birth.

"The Lord only knows," returned Mrs. Nichols. "Little girls
shouldn't ask too many questions."

This silenced Anna, and satisfied her that there was some mystery
connected with 'Lena. The mention of Nancy Scovandyke reminded Mrs.
Nichols of the dishes which that lady had packed away, and anxious to
see if they were safe, she turned to 'Lena saying, "I guess we'll
have time before dinner to unpack my trunks, for I want to know how
the crockery stood the racket. Anny, you run down and tell your pa
to fetch 'em up here, that's a good girl."

In her eagerness to know what those weather-beaten boxes