The whole scene from beginning to end had been enacted by Aunt Minervy Ann. In the empty spaces of the room she had placed the colonel, his wife, and Mary Ellen, and they seemed to be before us, and not only before us, but the passionate earnestness with which she laid the case of Mary Ellen before the colonel made them live and move under our very eyes.
"In de big road? In de woods? In de hoss-lot?"
And when she paused for the reply of the colonel, the look of expectation on her face was as keen and as eager as it could have been on the day and the occasion when she was pleading for Mary Ellen. The spell was broken by the lady of the house, who leaned forward eagerly as if expecting the colonel himself to reply. Perhaps Aunt Minervy Ann misunderstood the movement. She paused a moment as if dazed, and then sank by the sofa with a foolish laugh.
"I know you all put me down ter be a fool," she said, "an' I 'speck I is."
"Nonsense!" cried the lady of the house, sharply. "What did the colonel reply?"
Aunt Minervy remained silent a little while, picking at one of the fringes of the sofa. She was
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