The sunshine came in at the window and rested on Louise's bright head
and Dora's dark one, as they sat together in the same chair. Bess's
seat was an upturned earthen jar, and the same sunlight fell on her
small folded hands and on the brown wrinkled ones at work with the
stockings.
"Well, you know how Miss Zelie's ma died when she wasn't as big as
little Carie, and the last thing she said to me was, 'Sukey, you mind
my baby.' Miss Elizabeth always set great store by me, and I 'lowed
that freedom or nothin' could take me from old Master's family. It was
powerful lonesome in this big house in those days. Your grandpa took
your grandma's death mighty hard, and he had to travel a good deal for
his health, so Miss Zelie didn't have any one to look after her but
Mr. William and me. Mr. Frank, your pa, was away at college. Then Mr.
William got married. Miss Marcia is a good woman and kind-hearted, but
she ain't any gift at managin' children, and that's the truth. Miss
Zelie was a smart, lively child with a temper of her own, and if I do
say it she would have had a hard time if it had not been for her old
mammy. When she was ten years old Mr. Frank--he had been home from
college a year--come to me and says, 'Sukey, I'm goin' to be married.
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