?" he asked, eagerly, without seeming to notice her
defiant looks. "Tell me if you can."

"How can I tell you, suh," she demanded, indignantly, "when you have
fo'bidden even her name to be spoken befo' you?"

A harsh look came into the Colonel's eyes. He put the child hastily
down, and pressed his lips together.

"Don't tie my sunbonnet, Mom Beck," she begged. Then she waved her hand
with an engaging smile.

"Good-bye, suh," she said, graciously. "We've had a mighty nice time!"

The Colonel took off his hat with his usual courtly bow, but he spoke no
word in reply.

When the last flutter of her dress had disappeared around the bend of
the road, he walked slowly back toward the house.

Half-way down the long avenue where she had stopped to rest, he sat down
on the same rustic seat. He could feel her soft little fingers resting
on his neck, where they had lain when he carried her to the gate.

A very un-Napoleonlike mist blurred his sight for a moment. It had been
so long since such a touch had thrilled him, so long since any caress
had been given him.

More than a score of years had gone by since Tom had been laid in a
soldier's grave, and the years that Elizabeth had been lost to him
seemed almost a lifetime.

And this was Elizabeth's little daughter. Something very warm and sweet
seemed to surge across his heart as he thought of the Little Colonel. He
was glad, for a moment, that they called her that; glad that his only
grandchild looked enough like himself for others to see the resemblance.

But the feeling passed as he remembered that his daughter had married
against his wishes, and he had closed his doors for ever against her.

The old bitterness came back redoubled in its force.

The next instant he was stamping down the avenue, roaring for Walker,
his body-servant, in such a tone that the cook's advice was speedily
taken: "Bettah hump yo'self outen dis heah kitchen befo' de ole tigah
gits to lashin' roun' any pearter."

CHAPTER II.

Mom Beck carried the ironing-board out of the hot kitchen, set the irons
off the stove, and then tiptoed out to the side porch of the little
cottage.

"Is yo' head feelin' any bettah, honey?" she said to the pretty,
girlish-looking woman lying in the hammock. "I promised to step up to
the hotel this evenin' to see one of the chambah-maids. I thought I'd
take the Little Cun'l along with me if you was willin'. She's always
wild to play with Mrs. Wyford's child