nt now? and what will the Colonel say?" he
thought, as he took the letter to his master's room.

"A letter for you, sir," he said, putting it down upon the table by the
Colonel's chair, and then lingering on the pretence of adjusting a
curtain and brushing up the hearth, but really waiting to see what
effect the letter would have.

It was different from what he expected. With one glance at the
superscription, the Colonel grew deathly pale, and his hands shook so
that the letter dropped upon the floor. Peter picked it up and handed it
to him, saying, "Can I help you, sir?"

"Yes, by leaving me, and holding your tongue! There's the devil to pay!"
was the answer.

Peter was accustomed to hearing of his master's debts in that direction,
and to being told to hold his tongue, and he answered, "All right, sir,"
and left the room. For some moments the Colonel sat perfectly still, his
heart beating so fast that he could scarcely breathe. Then he opened
Jake's letter, and read as follows:

"Palmetto Clarin', Oct. --, 18--.

"Mister Kurnel Krompton,

"Deer Sir:

"Glory to God. I'se done sung all day for his mussy in lettin' me heer
from lil Miss Dory onc't mo' an' 'noin' she ain't ded as I feared she
was. Mas'r Minister Mason, who done 'tended the funeral of t'other Miss
Dory done tole me how she's livin' with you, an' a lil off in her mind.
The lam'! What happened her, I wonder? Her granny, ole Miss Lucy, was
quar. All the Harrises was quar. Mebby she got it from them. A site of
me will cure her sho'. Tell her I'se comin' to see her as soon as I hear
from you that it is her, sho'. Thar might be some mistake, an' I doan'
want to take the long journey for nothin', 'case I'm ole, tho' I feels
mighty peart now wid de news. Rite me wen you git this. I shall wait
till I har, an' then start to onc't.

"Yours to command,

"JAKE HARRIS."

"P.S.--Mandy Ann, you 'members her, what took care of lil chile. She's a
grown woman now in course, an' has ten chillen, 'sides Ted. You 'members
Ted, on de 'Hatty.' No 'count at all; but Mandy Ann, wall, she's a
whopper, an' when she hears de nuse, she 'most had de pow'. She sen's
her regrets, an' would come, too, if she hadn't so many moufs to feed,
an' Ted doin' nothin' but playin' gemman.

"Onc't mo', yours,

"JAKE."

To describe the Colonel's state of mind as he read this letter is
impossible. He forgot the pain in his leg and knee in the greater
sensation of the cold, prickly fe