aming face was worth a fortune to the Colonel.

When Walker pushed her chair up to the table, she turned to her
grandfather with shining eyes.

"Oh, it's just like a pink story," she cried, clapping her hands. "The
shades on the can'les, the icin' on the cake, an' the posies in the
bowl,--why, even the jelly is that colah, too. Oh, my darlin' little
teacup! It's jus' like a pink rosebud. I'm so glad I came!"

The Colonel smiled at the success of his plan. In the depths of his
satisfaction he even had a plate of quail and toast set down on the
hearth for Fritz.

"This is the nicest pahty I evah was at," remarked the Little Colonel,
as Walker helped her to jam the third time.

Her grandfather chuckled.

"Blackberry jam always makes me think of Tom," he said. "Did you ever
hear what your Uncle Tom did when he was a little fellow in dresses?"

She shook her head gravely.

"Well, the children were all playing hide-and-seek one day. They hunted
high and they hunted low after everybody else had been caught, but they
couldn't find Tom. At last they began to call, 'Home free! You can come
home free!' but he did not come. When he had been hidden so long they
were frightened about him, they went to their mother and told her he
wasn't to be found anywhere. She looked down the well and behind the
fire-boards in the fireplaces. They called and called till they were out
of breath. Finally she thought of looking in the big dark pantry where
she kept her fruit. There stood Mister Tom. He had opened a jar of
blackberry jam, and was just going for it with both hands. The jam was
all over his face and hair and little gingham apron, and even up his
wrists. He was the funniest sight I ever saw."

The Little Colonel laughed heartily at his description, and begged for
more stories. Before he knew it he was back in the past with his little
Tom and Elizabeth.

Nothing could have entertained the child more than these scenes he
recalled of her mother's childhood.

"All her old playthings are up in the garret," he said, as they rose
from the table. "I'll have them brought down to-morrow. There's a doll
I brought her from New Orleans once when she was about your size. No
telling what it looks like now, but it was a beauty when it was new."

Lloyd clapped her hands and spun around the room like a top.

"Oh, I'm so glad I came!" she exclaimed for the third time. "What did
she call the doll, gran'fathah, do you remembah?"

"I never pai