Phillis was at her ironing early in the morning, for she liked to hurry it over before the heat of the day.

Her cabin doors were open, and her flowers, which had been watered by a slight rain that fell about daybreak, looked fresh and beautiful.

Her house could be hardly called a cabin, for it was very much superior to the others on the plantation, though they were all comfortable.

Phillis was regarded by the Weston family as the most valuable servant they owned--and, apart from her services, there were strong reasons why they were attached to her.

She had nursed Mrs.Weston in her last illness, and as her death occurred immediately after Arthur's birth, she nourished him as her own child, and loved him quite as well.