grumbling to herself.

"Heah I done promise Miss Hallie these fresh aigs for her bufday cake,
an' no way to get 'em to her. I'll nevah get all these clothes done up
by night if I stop my i'onin', an' John Jay's done lit out again! little
black rascal!" She lifted up her voice in another wavering call. "John
Ja-a-y!" The beech woods opposite threw back the echo of her voice,
sweet and clear,--"Ja-a-y!"

"Heah I come, Mammy!" cried a panting voice. "I was jus' turnin' the
grine-stone for Uncle Billy."

She looked at him suspiciously an instant, then handed him the basket.
"Take these aigs ovah to Miss Hallie," she ordered, "and mind you be
quickah'n you was last time, or they might hatch befo' you get there."

"Law now, Mammy!" said John Jay, with a grin. He snatched at the basket,
impatient to be off, for while standing before her he had kept
scratching his right shoulder with his left hand; not that there was any
need to do so, but it gave him an excuse for holding together the jagged
edges of a great tear in his new shirt. He was afraid it might be
discovered before he could get away.

It was one of John Jay's peculiarities that in going on an errand he
always chose the most roundabout route. Now, instead of following the
narrow footpath that made a short cut through the cool beech woods, he
went half a mile out of his way, along the sunny turnpike.

[Illustration: Mars' Nat]

Mars' Nat stood outside his kitchen window, with his hands in his
pockets, giving orders to the colored boy within, who did his bachelor
housekeeping. Usually he had a joking word for old Sheba's grandson, but
this morning he took no notice of the little fellow loitering by with
such an appealing look on his face. John Jay had come past the toll-gate
with a hope of seeing the "Rev'und Gawge," as he called him. It had been
three weeks since the man had come home, and in that time John Jay's
interest in him had grown into a sort of hero-worship. There had been a
great deal of talk about him among the ignorant colored people.
Wonderful stories were afloat of his experiences at the North, of his
power as a preacher, and of the plans he had made to help his people. He
would have been surprised could he have known how he was discussed, or
how the stories grew as they travelled.

Those who had any claim whatever to a former acquaintance stopped at the
cottage to see him. Their interest and the little offerings of fruit or
flowers, which they of