ntin'
flowers, en I allers say ter myse'f, I did, 'Nobody better not pester
Miss Kitty w'iles Blue Dave anywhars 'roun'.' Miss Kitty, I 'clar' 'fo'
de Lord I ain't no bad nigger," Blue Dave continued in a tone of the
most emphatic entreaty. "You des ax yo' little br'er. Little Mars.
Felix, he knows I ain't no bad nigger."

"Why don't you go home, instead of hiding out in the woods?" said
Kitty, striving to speak in a properly indignant tone.

"Bless yo' soul, Miss Kitty, hit ain't no home fer me," said Blue Dave,
sadly. "Hit mought be a home fer some niggers, but hit ain't no home
fer me. I year somebody comin'. Good-bye, Miss Kitty; don't fergit
'bout Mars. George."

As noiselessly as the wind that faintly stirs the grass, Blue Dave
glided away in the darkness, leaving Kitty Kendrick standing upon the
veranda half frightened and wholly puzzled. Her little brother Felix
came out to see where she had gone. Felix was eight years old, and had
views of his own.

"Sister Kit, what are you doing? Watching for Mr. George to go by?"

"Don't speak to me, you naughty boy!" exclaimed Kitty. "You've
disgraced us all. You knew Blue Dave was hiding on top of the house all
the while. What would be done with us if people found out we had been
harbouring a runaway negro?" Kitty pretended to be terribly shocked.
Felix gave a long whistle, indicative of astonishment.

"You are awful smart," he said. "How did you find that out? Yes, I did
know it," he went on, desperately, "and I don't care if I did. If you
tell anybody, I'll never run up the road to see if Mr. George is coming
as long as I live; I won't never do anything for you."

Kitty's inference was based on what Blue Dave had said; but it filled
her with dismay to find it true. She caught the child by the shoulder
and gave him a little shake. "Brother Felix, how dare you do such a
thing? If mother knew of it, it would break her heart."

"Well, go and tell her and break her heart," said the boy, sullenly.
"It wasn't my fault that Blue Dave was up there. I didn't tote him up,
I reckon."

"Oh, how could you do such a thing?" reiterated Kitty, putting her
handkerchief to her eyes, as if by this means to expiate her brother's
folly.

"Well," said the child, still speaking sullenly, "I heard something
moving on top of the house one day when I was in the garret, and I kept
on hearing it until I opened the window and went out on the roof. Then,
when I got out there, I saw a grea