“It ain’t that I’s ’zackly _wantin’_, Ol’ Miss,” the boy replied, his eagerness growing with his decreasing embarrassment. “That Macon man, he’s meaner ’an dirt and that’s why I wants you to sell me to him.” He looked up with a broad grin on his face, seeming to think he had made himself perfectly plain and that somewhere hidden in his words was a huge joke upon some one. “You want to be sold to a mean man?” Mrs. May repeated. “I don’t understand you, Sam.” “Well, Ol’ Miss, it’s like this,” the boy began, trying to make his explanation clear. “These Yanks is a-coming. Yes’m, we-all ain’t got no doubt o’ that, and so I’s figgerin’ I’d be free, anyways, and I’d a heap ruther that Macon man should lose me than my Ol’ Miss, when she was so kind and bought me an’ my ol’ gran’mam. But there ain’t much time to waste, Ol’ Miss. You heah what I’s tellin’ yoh.” “Why are you so sure the Yanks are coming, Sam?” April asked. “Why, Lil’ Miss, I jes’ nachally knows it,” he answered. “We-all down in the quarters is a-talkin’ hit oveh, and there ain’t no doubt ’bout it. Why, Lil’ Miss, don’ you-all know that this heah Yankee General has beat Marse Robert Lee?” “Who told you that?” demanded Val Tracy, suddenly turning on the boy. “Nobody don’t tol’ us, Cap’n Tracy, we jes’ knows it, that’s all.” The boy looked up with a bland smile on his face that was wholly free from the slightest trace of guile. “The grapevine telegraph again,” Tracy murmured under his breath, shaking his head in deep perplexity. CHAPTER XXIII SECRETS Mrs. May dismissed Sam almost immediately, saying a word of her appreciation, but also insisting that his proposal was out of the question. “Whatever happens, Sam,” she told him, “your home will be here. If you get your freedom, then you can stay or go as you like; but we shall always be glad to have our people stay. Now go back to your work and say no more about being sold.” The moment the boy was gone April turned to Tracy. “Val,” she demanded, her face white and drawn, “can it be possible that Lee has surrendered?” “Yes,” he answered reluctantly. “It is possible. We had word of a battle at Five Forks and, if we’ve lost it, I don’t see what else General Lee could do. I’m afraid Sam’s news is true, but we shall know for certain very shortly.” “Then the war will soon be ended,” Mrs. May said prayerfully. April raised her head as if to speak, her eyes flashing angrily; but her white lips trembled and of a sudden she left them. With the arrival of the train to Washington all doubt of the events that had taken place at Richmond were put at rest. Lee had surrendered and Jefferson Davis was in flight. The Confederacy was breaking fast. After supper that night Dorothea, looking out of her window, saw April and Val Tracy walking together on the lawn, deep in earnest conversation.