ll to-day I've kept
that pledge. Nobody knows about the sale of that little piece of
property except Aunt Sharley and Lew Lake and me and the man who bought
it and the man who recorded the deed that I drew up. Even the man who
bought it never learned the real name of the previous owner, and the
matter of the recordin' was never made public. Whut's the good of my
bein' the circuit judge of this district without I've got influence
enough with the county clerk to see that a small real-estate transaction
kin be kept frum pryin' eyes? So you see only five people knowed
anything a-tall about that sale, and only three of them knowed the true
facts, and now I've told you, and so that makes four that are sharin'
the secret. . . . Don't carry on so, honey. 'Tain't ez ef you'd done
somethin' that couldn't be mended. You've got all your life to make it
up to her. And besides, you were in ignorance until jest now. . . . Now,
Emmy Lou, I ain't goin' to advise you; but I certainly would like to
hear frum your own lips whut you do aim to do?"

She raised her head and through the brimming tears her eyes shone like
twin stars.

"What am I going to do?" she echoed. "Judge, you just said nobody knew
except four of us. Well, everybody is going to know--everybody in this
town is going to know, because I'm going to tell them. I'll be a prouder
and a happier girl when they do know, all of them, than I've ever been
in my whole life. And I warn you that neither you nor Aunt Sharley nor
any other person alive can keep me from telling them. I'm going to glory
in telling the world the story of it."

"Lord bless your spunky little soul, honey, I ain't goin' to try to
hender you frum tellin'," said Judge Priest. "Anyhow, I expect to be
kept busy durin' the next few days keepin' out of that old nigger
woman's way. . . . So that's the very first thing you aim to do?"

"No, it isn't, either," she exclaimed, catching the drift of his
meaning. "That is going to be the second thing I do. But the first thing
I am going to do is to go straight back home as fast as I can walk and
get down on my knees before Aunt Sharley and beg her forgiveness for
being so unjust and so unkind."

"Oh, I reckin that won't hardly be necessary," said Judge Priest. "I
kind of figger that ef you'll jest have a little cryin' bee with her
that'll answer every purpose. Jest put your young arms round her old
neck and cry a spell with her. It's been my observation that, black or