horses, and driven by black Chris, the Hayes coachman, and Flora's black
mammy on the seat beside him, stopped in front of Sylvia's house and
Flora came running up the path, Sylvia and Grace were on the steps all
ready to start.

There was plenty of room for all three girls on the back seat, and Flora
declared that Sylvia should sit between Grace and herself. Mrs. Fulton
and Estralla stood at the gate and watched the happy little party drive
off. Estralla looked very sober. Ever since the adventure at Fort Sumter
the little colored girl had felt that she must look after Missy Sylvia
carefully. And she was not well pleased to see her young mistress
disappear from her watchful eyes.

"What a funny name 'Estralla' is," laughed Flora, as Sylvia called back
a good-bye.

"Oh, that isn't her name, really," explained Grace. "You know my Uncle
Robert owns her, and Auntie Connie named her after Aunt Esther and
Cousin Alice. Her name is really Esther Alice. But the colored people
never speak as we do."

"How can anybody 'own' anybody else, even if their skin is black?"
asked Sylvia.

Both her companions looked at her in such evident surprise that Sylvia
was sure she ought not to have asked such a question. Suddenly she
remembered that Flora's "Mammy" and "Uncle Chris," as Flora called him,
were negroes, and of course must have heard. She resolved not to ask
another question during her visit.