CHAPTER II.
Mom Beck carried the ironing-board out of the hot kitchen, set the irons off the stove, and then tiptoed out to the side porch of the little cottage.
"Is yo' head feelin' any bettah, honey ?" she said to the pretty, girlish-looking woman lying in the hammock.

"I promised to step up to the hotel this evenin' to see one of the chambah-maids.

I thought I'd take the Little Cun'l along with me if you was willin'.

She's always wild to play with Mrs.Wyford's children up there." "Yes, I'm better, Becky," was the languid reply.

"Put a clean dress on Lloyd if you are going to take her out." Mrs.Sherman closed her eyes again, thinking gratefully, "Dear, faithful old Becky! What a comfort she has been all my life, first as my nurse, and now as Lloyd's! She is worth her weight in gold!" The afternoon shadows were stretching long across the grass when Mom Beck led the child up the green slope in front of the hotel.
The Little Colonel had danced along so gaily with Fritz that her cheeks glowed like wild roses.