"And did you send for him?" the Colonel asked with some alarm, and Jake
replied: "I went for him an' he wasn't thar--had moved off--an' another
gemman, the Rev. Mr. Charles Mason, what I foun' at the hotel, 'tended
de buryin' with his pra'r book, 'case I wanted somethin' 'bout de
Resurrection an' de Life. 'Twas as fust class a funeral as we could have
out hyer. She wore her white gown--the one Mandy Ann says she wore when
you war hyer. You members it?"

The Colonel nodded, and Jake, thinking he could do nothing better than
repeat all the particulars, went on: "She had a nice coffin from
Palatka, an' Mandy Ann done fixed her rale nice, wid flowers in her
han's, an' on her bosom, an', does you 'member givin' Mandy Ann a dollar
when you's here afore?"

Again the Colonel nodded and Jake went on: "Well, she done bought a
ring wid some of it--not rale gold, you know, but looked most like
it--an' what do you think Mandy Ann did, as the last thing she could do
for Miss Dory?"

Jake was growing excited, and the Colonel nervous, as the negro
continued: "It was too small for her, to be shue, but she thought a
sight on't, but more of Miss Dory's good name."

There was a great ridge in the Colonel's forehead, between his eyes, as
he repeated, "Her good name?"

"Yes, sar," Jake answered. "What could you 'spec when dar's a lill
chile, and no fader for shoo, as anybody knows, but me an' Mandy Ann,
an' Mas'r Hardy. Naterally they'd talk. But I 'shured 'em 'twas all
right, an' knocked down one or two Crackers what grinned when I tole
'em, an' Mandy Ann did a power of fitin'. She's great at it--jess like a
cat, an' we got 'em pretty much all under, except a few ole women, who
never quite gin in till de last. Ole granny Thomas was de worst, an' de
rest follered her; but she gin in when she seen de ring Mandy Ann
slipped on Miss Dory's weddin' finger, an' dar wasn't a s'picion on de
lam' as she lay in her coffin."

The Colonel's lips moved spasmodically, while Jake continued: "Thar was
a right smart of 'em hyar, an' the minister read from de pra'r book jest
as I seen 'em in Virginny 'mongst de quality, an' when de blacks set up
a singin' so loud that ole Aunt Judy nighly had de pow'--dat's a kind of
fit, you know, when dey gits to feelin' like kingdom come--I stopped
her. I was boun' to have de funeral fust class. When ole Miss died, I
let 'em have dar way, an' ole Aunt Judy had de pow' till her missus, who
was hyar, shook her out on