ft o' any way to fetch her to he's maw less'n he taken
her up behime o' his saddle, an' so it seem' like the Lawd's call faw us
to come right along an' bring her hencefah, an' then, if she an' his maw
fin' theyse'ves agreeable, then Mr. Mahch--which his buggy happn to be
here in Suez--'llow to give her his transpotes the balance o' the way
to-morrow in hit."

"And you and Aunt Virginia will stay through the golden wedding as our
chief butler and chief baker, as I wrote you; will you?"

"Well, er, eh"--the old man scratched his head--"thass the question,
Miss Fannie. Thass what I been a-revolvin', an' I sees two views faw
revolution. On one side there is the fittenness o' we two faw this
work."

"It's glaring," mused Fannie.

"Flagrant," as gravely suggested Barbara.

"P'ecisely! Faw, as you say in yo' letteh, we two was chief butler an'
chief baker to they wedd'n' jess fifty year' ago, bein' at that time
hi-ud out to 'Squi' Usher--the ole 'Squieh, you know--by Miss Rose'
motheh, which, you know, Miss Tomb' she was a Usher, daughteh to the old
'Squi' Usher, same as she is still sisteh to the present 'Squieh, who
was son to the ole 'Squieh, his father an' hern. The ole 'Squieh, he
married a Jasper, an' thass how come the Tombses is remotely alloyed to
the Mahches on the late Jedge's side, an' to you, Miss Barb, on Miss
Rose's Montgomery side, an' in these times, when cooks is sca'ce an'
butlehs is yit mo' so, it seem to me--it seem to me, Miss Fannie, like
yo' letteh was a sawt o'--sawt o'----"

"Macedonian cry," said Fannie.

"Hark from the Tombses," murmured Barbara.

"And so you'll both come!" said Fannie.

"Why, as I say, Miss Fannie, thass the question, fo' there's the care o'
my flock, you know."

"De laymbs," put in Virginia, "de laymbs is bleeds to be fed, you know,
Miss Fannie, evm if dey is black."

"Yass, ma'am," resumed Leviticus; "an' if we speak o' mere yearthly
toys, Fudjinia's pigs an' chickens has they claims."

"Well, whoever's taking care of them now can keep on till the
twenty-second, Uncle Leviticus; and as for your church, you can run down
there Sunday and come right back, can't you? Why can't you?"

"Uncle Leviticus," said Barbara, "we expect, of course, to pay you both,
you know."

"Why, of course!" said Fannie, "you understood that, didn't you?"

"Yass'm, o' co'se," interposed Virginia, quickly, while Leviticus
drawled,

"O the question o' pay is seconda'y!--But we'll have to