Part 17 (1/2)
”So much gained,” murmured the lady aside to her husband. To Jeanne she only said quietly:
”Thank you, dear. You are an amiable little thing, and you shall have my favorite darky for your maid while you are here. I will call s...o...b..ll and she will help you to dress for dinner.”
”s...o...b..ll,” echoed Jeanne.
CHAPTER XIII
UNDER EVERY FLOWER THERE LURKS A SERPENT
”Yes; s...o...b..ll,” repeated Madame. ”A quaint name, is it not? She is so black that I fancy that was the reason it was given her. She bore it when your uncle bought her. She is very bright, and a master hand at waiting upon one.”
Jeanne made no further remark but eagerly scanned the face of the darky as she entered. She was indeed very black, and her s.h.i.+ning ivories were always visible in a smile. Good nature was written all over her countenance, but Jeanne could see no resemblance to Tenny.
”She may not be the one after all,” she mused.
”s...o...b..ll,” said Madame. ”Miss Jeanne will be your young lady now. Your duty will be to attend to her and to look after her clothes while she is here.”
”Yes'm;” s...o...b..ll dropped a curtsy. ”Does yer want me ter do anything now, little missy?”
”Yes; help her to dress for dinner,” replied Madame Vance speaking for Jeanne. ”We dine at eight, my dear.”
Jeanne followed the black to the room which had been given her, and s...o...b..ll proceeded to brush her hair.
”s...o...b..ll,” said the girl suddenly, ”was your mother named Tennessee? And did they call her Tenny for short?”
”Bress yer soul, honey, yes,” cried s...o...b..ll letting the brush fall in her astonishment. ”How k.u.m yer ter know dat?”
”She was on the boat with me when I came from Memphis,” replied Jeanne.
”She told me all about losing you and how much she thought of you, but she thought that Colonel Peyton bought you.”
”Yes'm, he did. But de Kuhnel went to de wah an' he say he hab too many darkies, so he sell off all but de ones he hab de longes', an' Ma.s.sa Vance bought me. What my ole mammy say?”
”She loves you very much, and she misses you greatly, s...o...b..ll. I wish I could buy you and set you free. Then you could go North to live with her.”
”Wish yer could. I'd laik dat. An' I'd laik de bes' in de wohld ter see my ole mammy ergain. How'd she look, missy?”
Jeanne told the girl all that she could recall about Tenny. How she looked and what she had said. s...o...b..ll's eyes glistened as she talked.
”Yer got a good heart, little missy,” she said as Jeanne paused for breath. ”You is de bestest lill' lady dat I eber seed. s...o...b..ll'll lub ter wait on yer.”
And Jeanne soon found that it was really a labor of love to the girl, and they grew to be fast friends despite the difference in color and condition. In fact she soon found that she felt more at home with the colored girl than she did with her aunt in spite of the caresses which the latter lavished upon her.
The days pa.s.sed into weeks, and the weeks into months until two had rolled by and Jeanne was still in New Orleans. She had grown pale and thin and worn. She had no illness but suffered the bad effects of the wasting climate. In all the time she had been there no word had come to her from her parents, and a great longing for home possessed her.
”Why does not my father write for me?” she murmured one morning as she sat listlessly before the window. ”What can have happened? Something is wrong I know, or he would have sent for me.”
”Why so triste, my love?” asked her aunt entering the room.
”Cherie,” and Jeanne returned the caress that Madame bestowed upon her.