I smiled. "Let Robelia go and you stay here."
Robelia waited on tiptoe. "Go fetch him," murmured Euonymus, "an' make has'e."
"Wait! You're a good boy, Euonymus, ain't you?"
"I cayn't say dat, mi'ss; but I'm glad ef you thinks so."
"Y' is good!" said Robelia. "You knows you is!"
"Never mind," I said; "do you belong to--Zion?"
The dark face grew radiant. "Yass'm, I does!"
"Euonymus, how many more of you-all are there besides daddy and mammy?"
The surprise was cruel. The runaway's eyes let out a gleam of alarm and then, as I lighted with kindness, filled with rapt wonder at my miraculous knowledge: "Be'--be'--beside'--beside' d-daddy an' m-mammy? D'ain't no mo', m-mist'ess; no'm!"
"Yass'm," put in Robelia, "da's all; us fo'."