"I doan' 'membah which one, Miss May-ree. Dey wuz bofe out yeste'day and de day befoah—"
"I think we ought to take both of them to-day, Tom. This is such an important day, you know, and I would not like to hurt the feelings of either of them. Do you think horses have feelings, Tom? I do."
"Wal, now, Miss May-ree, I doan' know persackly what to think 'bout dat. I reckon dey has, same's eberybody else. Ef'n yo' gib Fanny sugah lumps, an' doan' gib Billy none, I 'lows his feelin's ud be hurt a right smaht, I sahtinly does! But yo' pa done told me to tek de runabout and one hoss; so you see, one ob dem hab jes' natchelly got to stay home."
"W—ell, if you can't remember, Tom,—oh, I know how we can fix it! Drive Fanny when you take us to the ferry, and Billy when you come after us this evening."
"Dat's de ticket, Miss May-ree! Dah's Liza on de back porch. Wondah what she wants now."
"I know! I know!" and Mary flew up the walk.
"Aunt Mandy done told me to fotch yo' in, honey, kase yo' ma's awake now an'——"
But Mary waited to hear no more. Through the hall and up the stairs to her mother's room, she flew on tiptoe. Such a happy quarter of an hour as followed while she told her mother just a few of the plans she had made to show the dear babies how glad she was to have them.
"Are you going to dedicate them to Blessed Mother, too?" she asked; for she herself had, as a tiny baby, been placed under the special protection of the Mother of God, with the promise that she should wear our Lady's colors, blue and white, until her seventh birthday. She had been born in May, the month of our Lady, and had been named "for Blessed Mother first and Aunt Mary second," as she told those who asked about it. Though Mrs. Selwyn knew that her little girl never tired of hearing stories of the Blessed Virgin, she was somewhat surprised when, on Mary's last birthday, the child had asked, "Will you take me to church, please, Mother? It is about the promise, you know. Will you make it again for me? I can't bear to stop wearing Blessed Mother's colors just because I am seven years old. My new white dress with the pink ribbons on it is lovely; but I like blue better."
"I thought you must be tired of blue, dear," her mother had replied, "so I put pink ribbon on the new dress for a little change. But it makes me very happy to know that you love our Blessed Mother so much, and we shall go at once to renew the promise for another seven years."