"Certainly, certainly," answered the doctor, who was in unusually

good spirits, having just heard from an acquaintance whom he chanced

to meet that a lawsuit which had long been pending was decided in

his favor, and that the house and lot of a widow would probably come

into his possession. "Certainly, two cups if you like; I should have

proposed it myself, only I knew old Hannah would have dinner in

readiness for us, and 'tis a maxim of mine, that fasting provokes an

appetite."

"Hang dis nigger, if he aint a-maxin' her so quick!" muttered the

darkey, showing his teeth from ear to ear; and, coaxing Maude away

from her mother, he took her to a restaurant, where he literally

crammed her with ginger-bread, raisins, and candy, bidding her eat

all she wanted at once, for it would be a long time, maybe, ere

she'd have another chance!

"If you please, sar," he said, when at last he had returned to his

master, "if you please, Miss Nellie say how you must fotch her

somethin', and the old woman spec's a present in honor of de

'casion."

Dr. Kennedy thought of the lawsuit, and so far opened both heart and

purse as to buy for Nellie a paper of peanuts and for Hannah a ten-

cent calico apron, after which he pronounced himself in readiness to

go, and in a few moments Mrs. Kennedy was on her way to her new

home.

The road led over rocky hills, reminding her so much of Vernon and

its surrounding country that a feeling of rest stole over her, and

she fell into a quiet sleep, from which she did not awaken until the

carriage stopped suddenly and her husband whispered in her ear,

"Wake, Matty, wake; we are home at last."




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