"For Heaven's sake, tell me, Chloe, what has happened!"
"Miss Pashuns, I know it would dustress you so dat I wouldn't tell you till you dun eat yo' suppa, 'case I say maybe yu might faint 'way w'en yu hear."
"Oh, Chloe," I cried, "I will faint away now if you don't get on and tell me what has happened."
"Miss Pashuns, Dab shot Mr. 'Apa's dog!"
"Impossible, Chloe! When?"
Then followed a long narrative which I did not altogether understand, but she said: "Didn't bin fu my gone to see Mr. 'Apa an' cry an' baig um to wait till yu cum back Dab wud 'a' bin on de chain gang by now, fu Mr. 'Apa bin dun indict um, but I baig um for hab de case put off till yu cum back. Happen so I hear 'bout um een time."
I called for the lantern and went off at once to Mr. H. Chloe begged me not to go out alone into the night and said she thought Mr. H. and all the family would be in bed, but I felt I must know the worst before I went to bed.
When I knocked the door opened on a pretty picture of home, a beautiful young mother leaning over a six weeks' baby in a big rocking-chair used as a cradle and four boys sitting around the fire. I begged Mr. H. to speak with me a few minutes in the piazza, as I thought it best not to discuss the matter before all those boys, though it was certainly much more comfortable inside than out, for it was sharply cool. As soon as the door closed I exclaimed:—
"Mr. H., I am too distressed to hear that Dab has shot your dog! I cannot tell you how sorry I am! Is it dead?"
"No, Miss Pennington, he never shot the dog at all, and I don't think he meant to shoot him either. This is the way it happened:—