we-all a powerful lot when we's wrastlin' wid
we-all's sperrits. I hopes dey fotch yo' froo yo' doubtin's. I'se done
had ter say many an amen in ma day."

Jess' face was full of solicitude. He had not the remotest idea of the
source of Mrs. Vincent's turmoil of spirit, but if she found it
necessary to say "amen," Jess instantly concluded that his sympathies
were demanded. At all events he was now a part of Columbia Heights and
all within it's precincts came within his kindly solicitude. Tradition
was strong in old Jessekiah. Mrs. Vincent had much ado to keep her
countenance. She had come to Washington from a Western city and had but
slight understanding of the real devotion of the old-time negro to his
"white folks." Alas! few of the old-time ones are left. It was with a
sense of still having considerable to learn that she parted from the
girls and Jess and made her way toward the stables, reaching there some
time after Jess had unsaddled his horses and was performing their
toilets with as much care as a French maid would bestow upon her
mistress, though no French maid would ever have kept up the incessant
flow of affectionate talk to the object of her attentions that Jess was
maintaining. He took no notice of Mrs. Vincent, but _she_ did not miss
one shadow or shade of the absolute understanding existing between Jess
and his "babies," as he called them.

"Dar now, honeys," he said, as he carefully blanketed them. "Run 'long
back yander to yo' boxes. Yo' dinner's all a-ready an' a-waitin', lak de
hymn chune say, an' yo's ready fo' it. Dem children ain' never gwine
send yo' back to de stable, so het up, yo' cyant eat er drink fo' an
hour. No siree! Not _dem_."

At that moment Dawson and his assistant appeared with the horses the
girls had ridden. Notwithstanding the cool crispness of the morning,
Lady Belle was in a lather where her harness rested. The Senator was
blowing like a grampus; Jack-o'-Lantern's bit was foam-flecked and
Natalie's pretty little "Madam Goldie" looked fagged.

Mrs. Vincent instantly contrasted the condition of Shashai and Star with
the others. Yet Peggy and Polly had been riding like Valkyrie.

As Dawson espied the lady of the manor his face underwent a change which
would have been amusing had it not been entirely too significant. Mrs.
Vincent made no comments whatever concerning the horses but a veil had
certainly fallen from her eyes. She asked Dawson how his young ladies
were coming on with