he table, and ranged around them were the four candles,
spluttering and running down as tallow candles are apt to do. The dishes
troubled her, they were so thick and nicked in so many places, that it
was difficult to find one which was whole. The stranger had the china
plate, which had done duty as a tray for his card, and he had the only
plated fork in the house: a Christmas gift from Jake to the ole Miss,
who scarcely appreciated it, but insisted that it be wrapped in several
folds of tissue paper and kept in her bureau drawer. Mandy Ann did not
ask if she could have it. She took it and rubbed it with soft sand to
remove some discolorations and laid it, with a horn-handled knife, by
the china plate.

"Ef we only had napkins," she said, while Sonsie, who had lived all her
life near the clearing, and knew nothing of the fashions of the world,
asked what napkins were. With a toss of her head indicative of her
superior knowledge, Mandy Ann replied, "You'd know if you'd lived wid de
quality in Jacksonville. Miss Perkins's allus had 'em. Dey's squar
little towels what you holds in yer lap to wipe yer fingers on when
you've done eatin'. Dat's what they is, an' de gemman or to hev one."

"Can't he wipe his hands on de table cloth, for oncet?" Sonsie asked,
with a sudden inspiration which was received with great scorn by Mandy
Ann, to whom there had also come an inspiration on which she at once
acted.

In one of ole Miss's bureau drawers was a large plain linen handkerchief
which was never used. It would serve the purpose nicely, and Mandy Ann
brought it out, holding it behind her lest it should be seen by the old
lady, who sometimes saw more than Mandy Ann cared to have her see. It
was rather yellow like the table cloth, and the creases where it was
folded were a little dark, but Mandy Ann turned it, and refolded and
pressed it, and laid it on the china plate, while Sonsie looked on and
admired. Everything was in readiness, and Mandy Ann called across the
clearing. "Hallo, Miss Dory. Supper's done served."

She had caught on to a good many things at Miss Perkins's, and "served"
was one of them. "I don't s'pose Miss Dory will understan'," she
thought, "but he will, and see dat dis nigger know sumptin'."

It was a novel situation in which the stranger found himself, seated at
that table with Eudora presiding and Mandy Ann waiting upon them, her
tray a dinner-plate which she flourished rather conspicuously. He was
quick to