At this dismal prospect, the tears sprang to Tot’s eyes, and saying, “I’ll dit it, Diddie; don’ yer min’, I’ll dit it,” she ran as fast as her little feet could carry her to the kitchen, and told Aunt Mary, the cook, that “Diddie is sut up; dey lock her all up in de woom, an’ s’e neber had no dinner, an’ s’e’s starve mos’ ter def. Miss Tawwy done it, and s’e’s des ez mean!” Then, putting her chubby little arms around Aunt Mary’s neck, she added, “_Please_ sen’ Diddie some dinner.” And Aunt Mary, who loved the children, rose from the low chair on which she was sitting to eat her own dinner, and, picking out a nice piece of fried chicken and a baked sweet potato, with a piece of bread and a good slice of ginger pudding, she put them on a plate for the child. Now it so happened that Douglas, the head dining-room servant, was also in the kitchen eating his dinner, and, being exceedingly fond of Tot, he told her to wait a moment, and he would get her something from the house. So, getting the keys from Aunt Delia, the housekeeper, on pretence of putting away something, he buttered two or three slices of light bread, and spread them with jam, and, putting with them some thin chips of cold ham and several slices of cake, he carried them back to the kitchen as an addition to Diddie’s dinner. Tot was delighted, and walked very carefully with the plate until she joined the little group waiting under the window, when she called out, joyfully, “Hyear ’tis, Diddie! ’tis des de bes’es kine er dinner!” And now the trouble was how to get it up to Diddie. “I tell yer,” said Chris; “me ’n Dilsey’ll fotch de step-ladder wat Uncle Douglas washes de winders wid.” No sooner said than done, and in a few moments the step-ladder was placed against the house, and Dilsey prepared to mount it with the plate in her hand. But just at this juncture Diddie decided that she would make good her escape, and, to the great delight of the children, she climbed out of the window, and descended the ladder, and soon stood safe among them on the ground. Then, taking the dinner with them, they ran as fast as they could to the grove, where they came to a halt on the ditch bank, and Diddie seated herself on a root of a tree to eat her dinner, while Dumps and Tot watched the little negroes wade up and down the ditch. The water was very clear, and not quite knee-deep, and the temptation was too great to withstand; so the little girls took off their shoes and stockings, and were soon wading too. When Diddie had finished her dinner, she joined them; and such a merry time as they had, burying their little naked feet in the sand, and splashing the water against each other! “I tell yer, Diddie,” said Dumps, “I don’t b’lieve nuthin’ ’bout bad little girls gittin’ hurt, an’ not havin’ no fun when they runs away, an’ don’t min’ nobody. I b’lieve Mammy jes makes that up ter skyeer us.” “I don’t know,” replied Diddie; “you ’member the time’ bout Ole Billy?”