call it, an' she was raised in his home jest
like as ef she gwine to be mistress some day."

Delaven's cigar was forgotten, and its light gone out. The pedigree
was more interesting than he had expected. A Greek! All the beauty of
the ancient world had come from those islands across the sea. The
romances, the poems, the tragedies! and here was one living through a
tragedy of today; that flower on the tomb under the pines--it
suggested so much, now that he heard what she was.

"Mahs Lacaris, from what I could heah, was much the turn o' my Mahs
Duke, but 'thout Mahs Duke's money to back him; an' one day all his
business 'rangements, they go smash! an' sheriff come take all his
lan' and niggahs fo' some 'surance he'd gone fo' some one. Well, sah,
they say he most went 'stracted on head o' that smash up; an' 'special
when he found they took stock o' Retta, just like any o' the field
hands. But theah wan't no help fo' it, 'cause Retta's mammy was a
quadroon gal; jest made a pet o' the chile, an' was so easy goen' he
nevah took a thought that anything would ever change his way o'
liven'.

"Mahs Tom, he jes' got married to Miss Leo Masterson an' took her down
Florida fo' wedden' trip; that how he come to be theah when all Mahs
Lacaris' belongings was put up fo' sale. Seem like Mahs Lacaris had
hope he could get mo' money back in his own country, an' he was all
planned to start, an' he beg Mahs Tom to buy his little Retta an' keep
her safe till he come back.

"_Now_, Mahs Tom was powerful good-hearted--jest like his daddy. So he
totes the chile home, an' I know Hester (Miss Leo's maid) was ragen'
mad about it, 'cause she had to wait on her the whole enduren' trip
home, fo' seem like that chile nevah had been taught to wait on
herself.

"Well, sah, Massa Lacaris, he nevah did come back; that ship he went
in nevah was heard tell of again from that day to this, an' theah
wan't nothin' fo' Mahs Tom to do but jest keep her. He did talk about
sendin' her 'way to some school, fo' she mighty peart with books, an'
then given' her a chance to buy herself if so be she wanted to. But
Miss Leo object to that, flat foot down; she hadn't no sort o' use fo'
'ristocrat book-learned niggahs.

"Hester, she heard Miss Leo say them words, an' was mighty glad to
tattle 'em! Hester--she was Maryland stock, same as Cynthy. Well, sah,
they worried along fo' 'bout a yeah not deciden' jest what to do with
that young stray, then Miss Gertrude she