"Fairlee? Why, where am I? Oh, I remember now. Did I go to sleep, Mr. Frisby?"
"You did, Mistress Jean."
A quick, blush came.
"Oh," she said, "how can I thank you? I don't deserve——"
"Ah, Mistress Jean, it is I who do not deserve that pleasure. I would go through a hundred fights to be able to do it again; but you are tired, and I will rouse the house."
So, hammering on the door, I soon brought John Cotton to it. His woolly hair almost went straight on seeing me, and he started back, for he thought he saw my ghost.
"Good Lord, Mars Jim," he stammered, "does that be you?"
"Yes, you black scamp." And I soon convinced him of my real personality.
"But, Mars Jim, who is dat you got wid you? It ain't one of dem Yankee ladies, is it?" For, I am sorry to say, John Cotton did not approve of the ladies in question, and was afraid I would "disgrace de family" if I married one of them. Before I could answer I heard a glad little cry, and there was my mother, coming down the stairway of the great hall.
"How is my little lady?" said I, as I picked her up and kissed her, and then I introduced Mistress Jean to her and told her of our adventure at the Braes.