' laugh tell the tears
come in his eyes. Sister Prue she useter run off an' have a cry, but I
was one er the kind what wa'n't easy sot back.

"I'd 'a bin mighty glad if Pud yer had er took airter pa's famerly, but
frum the tip eend er her toe nails to the toppermust ha'r of her head
she's a Wornum. Hit ain't on'y thes a streak yer an' a stripe thar--
hit's the whole bolt. I reckon maybe you know'd ole Jedge June Wornum;
well, Jedge June he was Pud's gran'pa, an' Deely Wornum was her ma.
Maybe you might 'a seed Deely when she was a school-gal."

Cordelia Wornum! No doubt my astonishment made itself apparent, for
Mrs. Bivins bridled up promptly, and there was a clearly perceptible
note of defiance in her tone as she proceeded.

"Yes, sir-ree! _An' make no mistake!_ Deely Wornum married my son, an'
Henry Clay Bivina made 'er a good husbun', if I do have to give it out
myse'f. Yes, 'ndeed! An' yit if you'd 'a heern the rippit them Wornums
kicked up, you'd 'a thought the pore chile'd done took'n run off 'long
of a whole passel er high pirates frum somewheres er 'nother. In about
that time the ole Jedge he got sorter fibbled up, some say in his feet,
an' some say in his head; but his wife, that Em'ly Wornum, she taken on
awful. I never seen her a-gwine on myse'f; not that they was any hidin'
out 'mongst the Bivinses er the Sanderses--bless you, no! bekaze here's
what wa'n't afeared er all the Wornums in the continental State er
Georgy, not if they'd 'a mustered out under the lead er ole Nick
hisse'f, which I have my doubta if he wa'n't somewheres aroun'. I never
seen 'er, but I heern tell er how she was a-cuttin' up. You mayn't
think it, but that 'oman taken it on herse'f to call up all the niggers
on the place an' give 'em her forbiddance to go an' see the'r young
mistiss."

"Yit I lay dey tuck 'n sneak 'roun' en come anyhow, ain't dey, Miss
F'raishy?" inquired Mingo, rubbing his hands together and smiling
blandly.

"_That_ they did--_that_ they did!" was Mrs. Bivins's emphatic
response. "Niggers is niggers, but them Wornum niggers was a cut er two
'bove the common run. I'll say that, an' I'll say it on the witness
stan'. Freedom might a turned the'r heads when it come to t'other
folks, but hit didn't never turn the'r heads 'bout the'r young mistiss.
An' if Mingo here hain't done his juty 'cordin' to his lights, then I
dunner what juty is. I'll say that open an' above-board, high an' low."

The curious air of condesce