"Bear me up, Dorcas; don't let me faint."

"There--sit up and behave, Marse Tom. You are not going to faint;
you are only pretending--you used to act just so when you was
little; it does seem a long time for you to get grown up."

"Dorcas, the way the child is progressing, I shall be out of my job
before long--she'll have the whole post in her hands. I must make
a stand, I must not go down without a struggle. These
encroachments. . . . Dorcas, what do you think she will think of
next?"

"Marse Tom, she don't mean any harm."

"Are you sure of it?"

"Yes, Marse Tom."

"You feel sure she has no ulterior designs?"

"I don't know what that is, Marse Tom, but I know she hasn't."

"Very well, then, for the present I am satisfied. What else have
you come about?"

"I reckon I better tell you the whole thing first, Marse Tom, then
tell you what she wants. There's been an emeute, as she calls it.
It was before she got back with BB. The officer of the day
reported it to her this morning. It happened at her fort. There