rl's face grew sadder and whiter, and her eyes
had in them always an expectant, wistful look, as if waiting for some
one or something, which would lift from her the dark cloud under which
she was laboring. Jake, who had returned from Richmond, suffered nearly
as much as she did. His pride in his family--such as the family was--was
great, and his affection for his young mistress unbounded.

"Only tell me whar he is an' I'll done fetch him, or kill him," he said,
when in an agony of tears she laid her baby in his lap and said,
"Another for you to care for till he comes, as I know he will."

Eudora had said to the stranger that Jake would kill him if anything
happened to her, but now at the mention of killing him she shuddered and
replied, "No, Jake, not that. You'll know sometime. I can't explain. I
done promised more than once. The last time was by that grave yonder,
when he was sayin' good-by. It was same as an oath. I was to go to
school and learn to be a lady, but baby has come, and I can't go now. It
will make some differ with him perhaps, an' he'll come for baby's sake.
You b'lieve me, Jake?"

"Yes, honey--same as ef 'twas de Lawd himself talkin' to me, an' I'll
take keer of de little one till he comes, an' if I sees somebody winkin'
or hunchin' de shoulder, I'll--I'll--"

Jake clenched his fist to show what he would do, and hugging the baby to
him, continued, "Dis my 'ittle chile till its fader comes; doan' you
worry. I'se strong an' kin work, an' Mandy Ann's done got to stir de
stumps more'n she has."

He cast a threatening look at Mandy Ann, who had at first been appalled
at the advent of the baby, and for a while kept aloof even from Ted,
when the "Hatty" was in. Then she rallied and, like Jake, was ready to
do battle with any one who hunched their shoulders at Miss Dory. She had
two good square fights with Ted on the subject, and two or three more
with some of her own class near the clearing, and as she came off victor
each time it was thought wise not to provoke her, except as Ted from the
safety of the "Hatty's" deck sometimes called to her, when he saw her on
the shore with the baby in her arms and asked how little Boston was
getting along. Mandy Ann felt that she could kill him, and every one
else who spoke slightingly of her charge. She had told Jake over and
over again all she could remember of the stranger's visit, and more than
she could remember when she saw how eager he was for every detail. She