It was some time before Nell's fears were forgotten in sleep, and a grumbling voice from the kitchen woke her early in the morning.
"Dear me, who's been rakin' ober dis fire? It's clar out, every spark of it; an', Tig, you'll have to run over nex' do' for a bran' to start it wid."
Silvy the cook was evidently very much out of humor.
"Pshaw! you didn't cober it up right," returned the boy.
"You git along!" was the wrathful answer. "I reckon you done raked it ober yourself; and I'll tell de major ef you don' quit cuttin' up sech shines. Be off after dat bran' now, fast as you kin go."
Nell turned over on her pillow and listened.
"Percy must have forgotten to cover up the coals again," she said to herself. "What a narrow escape I had! What with Indians and vipers in the town, bears, wolves and panthers in the woods, I seem to have come into a dangerous place."
She sighed rather drearily, a homesick feeling creeping over her, spite of her love for Percy and the rest.
But that presently vanished before the beauty of a balmy, sunshiny May morning, the sight of the well-spread breakfast table, and the affectionate greetings of her brother and the children.
"I'm going shopping, Nell," announced Mrs. Lamar two hours later, when the house had been set to rights, and Silvy given her orders for the day; "will you go with me?"