n, and
found a gold ring with a small stone in it for Mandy Ann in place of the
one buried with poor Dory. This he would give to Jake to take home to
the negro girl, he thought, and then continued his search for dolls,
finding one which could stand up, and sit down, and was gorgeous in a
satin dress, with earrings in its ears. This was more in keeping with
his ideas, and he took it to the hotel, hoping he had seen the last of
Judy, who, he suggested, should be thrown away. He didn't know children.
The little girl was delighted with her new doll, which she handled
gingerly, as if afraid to touch it, and which she called Mandy Ann. But
she clung to Judy just the same, quite to the disgust of the Colonel.

Poor Jake grew thin during the few days they spent in Savannah, and he
knew he was nearing the end.

"I must buy her somfin'," he thought, and one morning when he was
walking with her past a dry goods store he saw in the window a little
scarlet merino cloak, lined with white satin, and looking so pretty that
he stopped to look at it, while the little girl jumped up and down,
exclaiming, "Oh, the buffitel cloak. Me wants it, Shaky; me wants it."

Going into the store Jake inquired the price, which was so large that
his heart sank. It would take nearly all the money he had with him to
buy it, but reflecting that the Colonel was paying his bills, and that
on his return home he could eat two meals a day, and light ones at that,
until he had saved the required sum, he bought the cloak; and, when the
final parting came, wrapped it round the little girl, and carrying her
to the steamer put her down, and left hurriedly, while she rolled on the
floor screaming for Shaky, and bumping her head against a settee. As the
boat moved off, Jake stood on the wharf watching it for a long distance,
with a feeling that all the brightness of his life had vanished with the
little girl, whom the harassed and half-crazed Colonel would have given
much to have left with him had it been practicable.

CHAPTER X

EUDORA

The Colonel had been gone nearly three weeks and no one knew where he
was, or thought it strange that they didn't. It was his habit to go
suddenly and return just as suddenly. Peter had his opinion, and felt
curious to know if the Colonel would bring back Jake and Mandy Ann
besides the child, and had many a hearty laugh by himself as he imagined
the consternation of the household when this menagerie was turned in
upon