Mandy Ann Crompton and Judy Crompton would sound fine,--both
niggers! No, sir! You are to go quietly to Ruby Ann and buy 'em! Do you
hear? Buy 'em! You knew Mrs. Amy when she played with 'em. You want 'em,
and you'll pay the price, no matter what it is. Lord Harry! I'll bet
they'll put a big one on 'em, but no matter. I paid thirty dollars for
the doll house and five for Mandy Ann. I don't s'pose Judy cost
anything, but the child liked it best, and I believe I'd rather have it
than both the others, because--"

He did not say why, but he gripped the arms of his chair tightly, while
drops of sweat stood upon his forehead. He was in the clearing again
with Dora living, instead of dead, and the moon was shining on her face
as she stood in the turn of the road and gave him the promise she had
kept so faithfully. Judy belonged to that far-off time, and he'd keep
her at any cost. He called himself a sentimental old fool after Peter
left him, and wondered why his eyes grew misty and there was a lump in
his throat as his thoughts kept going back to the South he wished he had
never seen.

"Poor little Dora!" he said to himself; "but for me she might have been
alive and married to some respectable--No, by George!" he added
suddenly, with a start which made his foot jump as he recalled the class
into which Dora would probably have married if he had not crossed her
path. "No, by George, I believe I'd rather she died in her youthful
beauty, and was buried by Jake in the sand, than to see her the wife of
some lout, and rubbing her gums with snuff."

He was roused from his reverie by wheels crunching on the gravel walk up
to a side door, and he heard Sarah's voice and Cindy's, the cook's, and
finally Amy's giving directions, and felt sure some one had come for
whatever was to go from the Crompton Place to the sale. Ruby had not
intended sending so soon when she left the house, but chancing to meet a
drayman who had just deposited a load in the salesrooms, she bade him go
for whatever was ready, thinking, "I'll strike while the iron is hot,
and before Mrs. Amy has time to change her mind."

There was no danger of that, at least as far as the dresses were
concerned. Like everything connected with her stage life, they had been
to her a kind of nightmare whenever she thought of them, and she was
glad to be rid of them. Mandy Ann and Judy did give her a few pangs, and
especially the latter, and as she wrapped it in tissue paper she held