He cast a threatening look at Mandy Ann, who had at first been appalled
at the advent of the baby, and for a while kept aloof even from Ted,
when the "Hatty" was in. Then she rallied and, like Jake, was ready to
do battle with any one who hunched their shoulders at Miss Dory. She had
two good square fights with Ted on the subject, and two or three more
with some of her own class near the clearing, and as she came off victor
each time it was thought wise not to provoke her, except as Ted from the
safety of the "Hatty's" deck sometimes called to her, when he saw her on
the shore with the baby in her arms and asked how little Boston was
getting along. Mandy Ann felt that she could kill him, and every one
else who spoke slightingly of her charge. She had told Jake over and
over again all she could remember of the stranger's visit, and more than
she could remember when she saw how eager he was for every detail. She
told him of the card taken to her mistress on a china plate, of the
table with its four candles, and ole Miss's handkerchief for a napkin,
and of her waiting just as she had seen it done at Miss Perkins's.

"The gemman was gran' an' tall, an' mighty fine spoken, like all dem
quality from de Norf," she said, although in fact he was the first
person she had ever seen from the North; but that made no difference
with Mandy Ann. "He was a gemman--he had given her a dollar, and he was
shoo to come back."

This she said many times to her young mistress, keeping her spirits up,
helping her to hope against hope, while the seasons came and went, and
letters were sometimes received or sent, first to Tom Hardy and
forwarded by him either to the North or to Eudora. There was no lack of
money, but this was not what the young girl wanted. Mandy Ann had said
she had not much _sperrit_, and she certainly had not enough to claim
her rights, but clung to a morbid fancy of what was her duty, bearing up