"I saw yo' sistah, Mis' Betty, wit him, and I seen she was gittin' fond of him, and I says I ain't gwinter have Mis' Betty runnin' off wif him.

And I'se never gibbin de lettah to her." That was all the explanation Sam would vouchsafe, and Col.

Zane, knowing it would be useless to say more to the well-meaning but ignorant and superstitious old negro, turned and wended his way back to the house.

He looked at the paper and saw that it was addressed to Elizabeth Zane, and that the ink was faded until the letters were scarcely visible.
"What have you there ?" asked his wife, who had watched him go up the hill to the negro's cabin.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her husband's face had recovered its usual placid expression.
"It is a little letter for that young fire-brand up stairs, and, I believe it will clear up the mystery.