in raiment of wrought
needlework'? Well, this is wrought needlework,
every bit of it."

I showed her the seams and the stitches; and,
my dear, she put it on without another word,
and was as pleased as Punch when she was
dressed up all neat and clean. Then I brushed
her hair out,--lovely hair it was, comin' down
below her knees, and thick enough for a cloak,
but matted and tangled so 't was a sight to
behold,--and braided it, and put it up on top
of her head like a sort o' crown, and I tell
you she looked like a queen, if ever anybody
did. She fretted a little for her birch-bark
crown, but I told her how Scripture said a
woman's glory was her hair, and that quieted
her at once. Poor soul! she was real good and
pious, and she'd listen to Scripture readin' by
the hour; but I allus had to wind up with
somethin' about King Solomon.

Well, Dolly, the Queen o' Sheba stayed with me
(I must make my story short, Honey, for your
ma'll be comin' for ye soon now) three years;
and I will say that they was happy years for
both of us. Not yourself could be more biddable
than that poor crazy Queen was, once she got
wonted to me and the place. At first she was
inclined to wander off, a-lookin' for the King;
but bimeby she got into the way of occupyin'
herself, spinnin'--she was a beautiful
spinner, and when I told her 't was Scriptural,
I could hardly get her away from the wheel--and
trimmin' the house up with flowers, and playin'
with Bluff, for all the world like a child. And
in the evenin's,--well, there! she'd sit on her
throne and tell stories about her kingdom, and
her gold and spices, and myrrh and frankincense
and things, and all the great things she was
goin' to do for her faithful slave,--that was
me, ye know; she never would call me anything
else,--till it all seemed just as good as true.
_'T was_ true to her; and if 't had been really
true for me, I shouldn't ha' been half so well
off as in my own sp'ere; so 't was all right.

My dear, my poor Queen might have been with me
to this day, if it hadn't been for the
meddlesomeness of men. I've heerd talk o'