comin'
home from prayer-meetin', 'bout two weeks ago, walkin' back er dis
same place in de dark ob de moon. An' all ob a suddin I hyuh de
pianner in de pahlor, _ting-a-ling-a-ling! ting-a-ling-a-ling!_ I
say, 'Who de name er Gawd in ol' Mis' Scarlett's pahlor, when dey
ain't nobody in it?' I look thoo de haidge, an' dey's one weenchy
light in de room, an' whilst I'm lookin', it goes out! An' de
pianner, she's a-playin' right along! Yessum, de pianner, she's er
tingalingin' by 'erself in de middle o' de night!"

"And who was playing it, Uncle Adam?"

"Dat's what I axin yit: who playin' Mis' Scarlett's pianner when dey
wasn't nobody in de house?"

"Why didn't you find out?"

"Who, me?" cried the old man, with horror. "If I could er borried a
extra pahr er laigs from er yaller dawg, I'd a did it right den, so 's
I could run twict faster 'n I done!--Whichin' please, ma'ams, lemme
take you-all ter de hotel."

When he saw that he couldn't prevail upon us to do so, he left us
regretfully, shaking his head. He would come back early in the
morning to do anything we might require. But he wouldn't stay
overnight in Hynds House for any consideration. No negro in the
county would.

"Alicia," said I, when we had had a cup of tea made over our spirit
lamp, and firelight and lamplight made the place less depressing and
eerie, "Alicia, that terrible old woman has played me, like an ace
up her sleeve, against her neighbors and her family. She has left me
a house that needs everything done to it except to burn it down and
rebuild it, and a garden that will have to be cleared out with
dynamite. And she has seen to it that I have the preconceived
prejudice of all Hyndsville."

Alicia's pretty, soft lips closed firmly.

"Here we are and here we stay!" she said determinedly. "Nobody's
been disinherited to make room for us. Sophy, in all our lives we
have never had a chance to make a real home. Well, then, Hynds House
is our chance, and I'd just like to see anybody take it away from
us!"

"Up, Guards, and at 'em!" said I, smiling at her tone. I am slower
than she, but even more stubborn, as the English are.

"Tell your admiral that if he gets in my way I will blow his ships
out of the water!" said Alicia, gallantly.

But when we went up-stairs, we took good care to lock our door, and
bolt it, too. Alicia said her prayers kneeling by the gate-legged
table, snuggled into bed between the clean sheets we had brought
with us, tuck