After the clothes had been put to soak in a tub Mandy dried her hands
and sat and looked at Liza Ann and Jim playing with the Calico Clown.

"Come now, you'd better get ready to take him back," she said to Jim,
after a while.

"Does you mean to take him back where you got de basket of wash,
Mammy?" asked the colored boy.

"Yes," his mother answered. "You know de big green house. You's been
dere befo', honey. You go dere now, Jim--tisn't late yet--an' you take
back dis Clown. Tell Mirabell or Arnold dat it got in de wash wif dere
daddy's pocket hankowitches."

"All right," said Jim, with a sigh. "I will. But I suah does wish we
could keep him!"

"So do I," sighed Liza Ann in a low voice.

"Well, maybe some day I can make money enough to git you somethin' to
play wif," said their mother.

As she had said, it was not late, though the sun had set. It was a
warm, summer night, and the moon was shining brightly. Jim knew the
way to the house where Mirabell and Arnold lived, for he had often
gone there both with his mother and alone, either to get or bring back
the clothes.

With the Calico Clown wrapped in a piece of paper, Jim set off on his
trip. He hurried along, thinking how nice it would be if he had a toy