answer, "Oh, dat was jes' one o' my mammy's ol'
songs."

"Well, it sholy was mighty pretty. Indeed it was."

"Oh, thanky, Brothah Gidjon, thanky."

Then a little later they began to walk back to the master's house
together, for Martha, too, was one of the favored ones, and served,
not in the field, but in the big house.

The old women looked on and conversed in whispers about the pair, for
they were wise, and what their old eyes saw, they saw.

"Oomph," said Mam' Henry, for she commented on everything, "dem too is
jes' natchelly singin' demse'ves togeddah."

"Dey's lak de mo'nin' stahs," interjected Aunt Sophy.

"How 'bout dat?" sniffed the older woman, for she objected to any
one's alluding to subjects she did not understand.

"Why, Mam' Henry, ain' you nevah hyeahd tell o' de mo'nin' stahs whut
sung deyse'ves togeddah?"

"No, I ain't, an' I been livin' a mighty sight longah'n you, too. I
knows all 'bout when de stahs fell, but dey ain' nevah done no singin'
dat I knows 'bout."

"Do heish, Mam' Henry, you sho' su'prises me. W'y, dat ain'
happenin's, dat's Scripter."

"Look hyeah, gal, don't you tell me dat's Scripter, an' me been
a-settin' undah de Scripter fu' nigh onto sixty yeah."

"Well, Mam' Henry, I may 'a' been mistook, but sho' I took hit fu'
Scripter. Mebbe de preachah I hyeahd was jes' inlinin'."

"Well, wheddah hit's Scripter er not, dey's one t'ing su'tain, I tell
you,--dem two is singin' deyse'ves togeddah."

"Hit's a fac', an' I believe it."

"An' it's a mighty good thing, too. Brothah Gidjon is de nicest house
dahky dat I ever hyeahd tell on. Dey jes' de same diffunce 'twixt him
an' de othah house-boys as dey is 'tween real quality an'
strainers--he got mannahs, but he ain't got aihs."

"Heish, ain't you right!"

"An' while de res' of dem ain' thinkin' 'bout nothin' but dancin' an'
ca'in' on, he makin' his peace, callin', an' 'lection sho'."

"I tell you, Mam' Henry, dey ain' nothin' like a spichul named chile."

"Humph! g'long, gal; 'tain't in de name; de biggest devil I evah
knowed was named Moses Aaron. 'Tain't in de name, hit's all in de man
hisse'f."

But notwithstanding what the gossips said of him, Gideon went on his
way, and knew not that the one great power of earth had taken hold of
him until they gave the great party down in the quarters, and he saw
Martha in all her glory. Then love spoke to him with no uncertain
sound.

It was a dancing-party, and because neither