"P'ecisely! Faw, as you say in yo' letteh, we two was chief butler an' chief baker to they wedd'n' jess fifty year' ago, bein' at that time hi-ud out to 'Squi' Usher--the ole 'Squieh, you know--by Miss Rose' motheh, which, you know, Miss Tomb' she was a Usher, daughteh to the old 'Squi' Usher, same as she is still sisteh to the present 'Squieh, who was son to the ole 'Squieh, his father an' hern. The ole 'Squieh, he married a Jasper, an' thass how come the Tombses is remotely alloyed to the Mahches on the late Jedge's side, an' to you, Miss Barb, on Miss Rose's Montgomery side, an' in these times, when cooks is sca'ce an' butlehs is yit mo' so, it seem to me--it seem to me, Miss Fannie, like yo' letteh was a sawt o'--sawt o'----" "Macedonian cry," said Fannie. "Hark from the Tombses," murmured Barbara. "And so you'll both come!" said Fannie. "Why, as I say, Miss Fannie, thass the question, fo' there's the care o' my flock, you know." "De laymbs," put in Virginia, "de laymbs is bleeds to be fed, you know, Miss Fannie, evm if dey is black." "Yass, ma'am," resumed Leviticus; "an' if we speak o' mere yearthly toys, Fudjinia's pigs an' chickens has they claims." "Well, whoever's taking care of them now can keep on till the twenty-second, Uncle Leviticus; and as for your church, you can run down there Sunday and come right back, can't you? Why can't you?" "Uncle Leviticus," said Barbara, "we expect, of course, to pay you both, you know." "Why, of course!" said Fannie, "you understood that, didn't you?" "Yass'm, o' co'se," interposed Virginia, quickly, while Leviticus drawled, "O the question o' pay is seconda'y!--But we'll have to accede, Fudjinia; they can't do without us." "I think, Fannie," said Barbara, looking very business-like, "we'd better have them name their price and agree to it at once, and so be sure----" "Lawd, honey!" cried Virginia, "we ain't goin' to ax no prices to you-all! sufficiend unto de price is de laboh theyof, an' we leaves dat to yo' generos'ty. Yass, dass right where we proud an' joyful to leave it--to yo' generos'ty." "Well, now, remember, the Tombses mustn't know a breath about this. You'll find Johanna in the kitchen. She'll have to give you her room and sleep on the floor in Miss Barb's; she'll be glad of the excuse----" "Thaank you, Miss Fannie," replied Virginia, with amiable complacency, "but we 'llowin' to soj'u'n with friends in town." "O, indeed! Well"--Arrangements for a later conference were made. "Good-evening. I'm glad you're bringing such a nice-looking girl to Mrs. March. What is her--what is your name?" "Daaphne." "What!" "Yass'm. Mr. Mahch say whiles I wuck faw he's maw he like me to be naame Jaane, but my fo'-true name's Daaphne, yass'm." "Barb," said Fannie, "I've just thought of something we must attend to in the house at once!" XLVIII. DELILAH