"Shut up, confound you!" cut in Fletcher sharply.

"If you don't stop your chatter I'll set the dogs on you. Shut
up, I say!"

He strode into the house, slamming the heavy door behind him, and
a moment afterward Carraway heard him scolding brutally at the
servants across the hall.

The old Negress had gone muttering from the porch with her unsold
chickens, when the door softly opened again, and the girl, who
had entered through the front with her basket of flowers, came
out into the growing moonlight.

"Wait a moment, Aunt Mehitable," she said. "I want to speak to
you."

Aunt Mehitable turned slowly, putting a feeble hand to her dazed
eyes. "You ain' ole miss come back agin, is you, honey?" she
questioned doubtfully.

"I don't know who your old miss was," replied the girl, "but I am
not she, whoever she may have been. I am Maria Fletcher. You
don't remember me--yet you used to bake me ash-cakes when I was a
little girl."

The old woman shook her head. "You ain' Marse Fletcher's chile?"

"His granddaughter--but I must go in to supper. Here is the money