Just then the old colored woman the boy and girl so lovingly addressed as “Mammy,” entered the room and walking straight over to Edward Paxton, said:
“Marse Edward, Alexander is at de do’.”
The other Edward laughed.
“You didn’t know I had a twin, did you, Mammy?”
The woman held up her hands in amazement.
“Fo’ de Lord,” she said, “I thought ’twas my young Massa.”
Virginia, too, was amazed at the strong resemblance between the two boys.
“But I must be hurrying away,” said Edward l’Estrange.
They followed him to the front door. Georgiana Paxton wanted to send word to her grandmother that they were safe. Miss Campbell had another errand for him, and Edward Paxton whispered something gravely in his ear. The two boys looked at each other. Already, they had established a sympathetic understanding. Then the American boy mounted an old bony mule and rode off down the avenue.
Billie now understood why Edward l’Estrange did not want to explain how he was to get back to the hotel. But Virginia laughed gaily. It was impossible to say whether it was really a pleasure to her to be entertaining these strangers in her dismantled old home or whether her manners were so perfect that she was able to make it appear so. One thing was plain, however. She was determined not to be recognized as the chambermaid of the morning.