Jes' come up an' see how I fixed it up." "And tell me about your sister--is she better ?" he continued.
The old woman put her arms akimbo: "Lawd bress ye, Marse George!--who done tol' ye dat fool lie! I ain't got no sister--not yere!" "Why, I thought you couldn't come back to me because you had to nurse some member of your family who had kittens, or some such misery in her spine--wasn't that it, Todd ?" said St.George trying to conceal a smile.
Todd shot a beseeching look at Jemima to confirm his picturesque yarn, but the old woman would have none of it.
"Dere ain't been nobody to tek care ob but des me.

I come yere 'cause I knowed ye didn't hab no money to keep me, an' I got back de ol' furniture what I had fo' I come to lib wid ye, an' went to washin', an' if dat yaller skunk's been tellin' any lies 'bout me I'm gwineter wring his neck." "No, let Todd alone," laughed St.George, his heart warming to the old woman at this further proof of her love for him.

"The Lord has already forgiven him that lie, and so have I.And now what have you got upstairs ?" They had mounted the steps by this time and St.George was peering into a clean, simply furnished room.

"First rate, aunty--your lumber-yard man is in luck.

And now put that in your pocket," and he handed her the package.
"What's dis ?" "Nearly half a year's wages." "I ain't gwineter take it," she snapped back in a positive tone.
St.George laid his hand tenderly on the old woman's shoulder.