"Lorr de massy, chile! You nearly scare de bref outen my body!" and there was Mammy Leezer, whose staff had touched her arm before the old woman saw her from the side of a tree.
It took but a look or two to see Sally's swollen eyes and flushed cheeks.
"Now what a-matter, honey?" asked the soothing old voice. "I come over here in de woods fo' some big burdock leaves I knew was here, and I soaks dem in winegar fo' to quiet de mis'ry in my bones. But what grieve you? Tell ole Mammy all 'bout it."
Sally shivered with a sob that came before she could keep it back, then she simply said that she had wanted to study, and some one was willing to teach her, but that Mistress Brace would not allow it.
Mammy put on the cunning look that meant a good deal.
"Oh, now doan't go bursting yo' poor lil heart over dat," she crooned, "p'raps yous'll be gettin' de schoolin' after all."
"You don't know Mistress Brace," said Sally, with a sad little smile.
"No, I doan't berry much," said Mammy, in a voice that swelled, "but I might be gettin' to knowin' her better one o' dese days." And she hobbled away, a broad grin on her round face.
When beyond Shady Path, Mammy was delighted to see Mistress Brace striding along, a market basket on her arm.
Now Mammy knew not the first thing about the money that Sally's father had left for his little girl. But she did know that he had boarded in a nice house at Jamestown Corners when Mistress Brace lived there, that he had appeared to have plenty of money, and that his little girl wore the nicest of clothes.