d
around in superstitious awe, and with the white face of his wife looking
at him from among the pillows, he knelt and offered a prayer, and asked
a blessing upon the two children just come into the world. And through
it all those diminutive specimens of humanity lay there blinking with
their hands still clasped.

"Well, they named the white child Robert Vaughan, and they began calling
the little darky Ben, until an incident in later life gave him the name
that clung to him till the last, and which the Fairfaxes have had
chiseled on his tomb-stone.

"The incident occurred when the two boys were about five years old. They
were as thick as thieves, and two greater scamps and greater cronies
never tramped together over a Virginia plantation. In the matter of
deviltry they were remarkably precocious, and it was really wonderful
what an amount of mischief those two could do. As was natural, the white
boy planned the deeds, and the black one was his willing coadjutor in
carrying them out.

"Meanwhile, the proud father was smilingly indulgent to their pranks,
but even with him the climax was reached when one of his fine young
hounds was nearly driven into fits by the clatter of a tin can tied to
its tail. Then the two culprits were summoned to appear before the
paternal court of inquiry.

"They came hand in hand, and with no great show of fear or
embarrassment. They had gotten off so many times before that they were
perfectly confident of their power in this case to cajole the judge. But
to their surprise he was all sternness and severity.

"'Now look here,' he said, after expatiating on the cruel treatment
which the dog had received. 'I want to know which one of you tied the
can to Spot's tail?'

"Robert Vaughan looked at Ben, and Ben looked back at him. Silence
there, and nothing more.

"'Do you hear my question?' old Fairfax asked with rising voice.

"Robert Vaughan looked straight ahead of him, and Ben dug his big toe
into the sand at the foot of the veranda, but neither answered.

"'Robert Vaughan Fairfax,' said his father, 'who played that trick on
Spot? Answer me, do you hear?'

"The Fairfax heir seemed suddenly to have grown deaf and dumb, and the
father turned to the black boy. His voice took on the tone of command
which he had hardly used to his son. 'Who played that trick on Spot?
Answer me, Ben.'

"The little darky dug harder and harder into the sand, and flashed a
furtive glance from under his brows