id's eyes, and the despairing
expression in her voice.

"No, no, Honey Nan; 'tis-a no home fer we when you drive we 'way fum
foller you, when you shak-a yo' haid ef we come trot, trot 'hind you. We
no want home lak dat. No, no, Honey Nan. We make home in de woods."

"Where is your home?" Nan inquired, full of curiosity.

"We take-a you dey when dem sun go 'way."

"Well, you must stay here," said Nan, emphatically. "You shall follow me
wherever I go."

"You talk-a so dis time, Honey Nan; nex' time--" Tasma Tid ran down the
steps, and went along the walk mimicking Nan's movements, shaking her
frock first on one side and then on the other. Then she looked over her
shoulder, turned around with a frown, stamped her foot and made menacing
gestures with her hands. "Dat how 'twill be nex' time, Honey Nan."

Hearing Mrs. Absalom laughing, Nan conjectured that she had witnessed
Tasma Tid's performance. "Nonny," she cried, "do I really walk that way,
and finger my skirt so?"

"To a t," said Mrs. Absalom, laughing louder. "Ef she was a foot an' a
half higher, I'd 'a' made shore it was you practisin' ag'in the time
when you'll mince by the store where old Silas Tomlin's yearlin' is
clerkin', or by the tavern peazzer, where Frank Bethune an' the rest of
the loafers set at. It's among the merikels that Gabe Tolliver don't mix
wi' that crowd. I reckon maybe it's bekaze he jest natchally too
wuthless."

"Now, Nonny! I don't think you ought to make fun of me," protested Nan.
"I am perfectly certain that I don't mince when I walk, and you are
always complaining that I don't care how my clothes look."

"Go roun' to the kitchen, you black slink," exclaimed Mrs. Absalom,
addressing Tasma Tid, "an' git your dinner! You've traipsed and
trolloped until I bet you can gulp down all the vittles on the place."

"And when you have finished your dinner, come to my room," said Nan.

It was not often that Nan was to be found in her own room during the
day, but now she remembered that she had promised to spend the night
with Eugenia Claiborne; and how was she to invite Gabriel to tea, as
Mrs. Dorrington had suggested? There was but one thing to do, and that
was to break her engagement with Eugenia. She was of half a dozen minds
what to say to her friend. She wrote note after note, only to destroy
each one. She pulled her nose, stuck out her tongue, looked at the
ceiling, and bit her thumb, but all to no purpose.

Tasma Tid, who had finishe