Den a tater roast, yo' mind;
Why, bress yo' heart, dis make me cry,
Nebber mo' dem times yo' find.
De Massa's gone--ole Missus, gone,
En mah ole woman am, too;
I'm laid up now wif rheumatiz,
En mah days am growin' few.
Ole Tige mos' blind en crippled up,
So dat he can't hunt no mo';
No possums now tuh grease de chops,
Oh, I's feelin' mighty po'!"

As Ephraim concluded he made a most elaborate bow, touching his hand
to his forelock--or where the forelock should have been.

The old negro's interested listeners burst into loud applause, and
the bow was repeated again and again. The verses had been rendered
with considerable feeling and some sense of their poetic value,
which, of course, Ephraim had learned from hearing the verses recited
by others.

Len Haley, upon being called on for a contribution to the
entertainment, spoke the first--and last--piece he had learned
during the few short months he had attended school. It was a
temperance piece, and if not thoroughly in keeping with the festive
occasion, was at least one of the most earnest efforts of the
afternoon.

Aurora, who was an elocutionist of no mean merit, rendered
Longfellow's "Hiawatha," with such realistic touches that Herr
Deichenberg sat spellbound through her recital, to spring up and
grasp her hand when she had finished.

"My dear girl," he cried, "dat was excellent--excellent. I am proud,
indeed, to know you."

"I trust you will never have occasion to change your mind," was the
girl's pleasant response.

The entertainment over, Herr Deichenberg and Judge Breckenridge
engaged in a checker contest, which was so closely fought that the
others stopped whatever they were doing to look on. The Herr was
finally triumphant, taking four games out of seven.

When the Christmas party broke up that evening, all were agreed that
it had been one of the most glorious holiday times they had ever
spent.

CHAPTER XII

MR. LUDLOW'S OFFER

The holidays passed all too quickly to the happy party at Old
Bellvieu. Herr and Frau Deichenberg came no more during the stay of
the Judge and Molly, but Gerald and Aurora were over nearly every
evening.

One night, toward the close of the week, Aunt Betty and the Judge
chaperoned a party of young people, including Dorothy, Molly, Aurora,
Gerald, Jim and Len to the theater, where one of the reigning comic
opera successes was on view. It was a