You see, Uncle, he didn't forget!"

Smiling, the two men looked from the window. An old negro muffled in a
threadbare overcoat was plodding up the walk, his eyes scanning the
house with evident curiosity.

The Major uttered a quick exclamation and the girl wheeled about.

"Don't you see?" she cried. "He's come to-day, honest old fellow that
he is! See, Dick--"

She stopped abruptly, looking from one to the other. There was
something in the two stern faces staring beyond her at the bent negro
that struck a chill to her heart. Dick's face had gone white, and the
Majors hand had stolen to the younger man's shoulder as if to steady
him.

There was a startled incredulity in the Major's face as he said: "Brace
up, old man! You didn't know, neither did I."

"Ruth," Dick asked unsteadily, "is that the old colored man
whose--whose master--"

"Yes!" cried the girl, the sharp pain of premonition in her voice.
"Oh, Dick, who is he?"

Dick's miserable eyes sought hers as he answered, "It's--it's Dad's
Uncle Noah. Ruth, I--" He turned and sought the hall.

Ruth's face flamed at his words. Uncle Noah's pathetic story came
crowding over her again in the light of Dick's revelation. His father
and mother! The stern old Colonel, of whom Dick always spoke with such
respectful loyalty in spite of their quarrel, and the dear mother,
whose tender eyes gazing from the old-fashioned daguerreotype Dick
always carried had made her choke with sudden tears--these two were
Uncle Noah's beloved "ol' Massa an' ol' Mis'"!

She turned; the Major had followed Dick to the hallway. A shuffling
step sounded on the porch outside, and the girl hurried toward the
door, a sudden light of daring in her eyes. Impulse had always ruled
the Verneys, and Ruth was a Verney from the crown of her dark head to
the tips of her small feet. Catching up Grandmother Verney's long
cloak hanging over a chair, she softly left the house.

Dick, struggling into his overcoat, turned at the Major's touch on his
arm.

"Just a minute, Dick." Major Verney's genial voice was sympathetic as
a woman's. "Remember that what the Colonel refused in prosperity he's
not likely to take in adversity. Sit down here by the fire until we
talk it over."

"But, Major"--there was a note of anguish in the boy's voice--"I must
go to him. Think of Uncle Noah selling himself to help them, and I--"

But the Major had already removed the overcoat and gently pushed his
gue