Thus reassured ’Lena followed on, until they reached Anna’s room, which they were about to enter, when the shrill voice of Mrs. Nichols fell upon their ears, calling, “’Leny, ’Leny, where upon airth is she?”
“Let’s go to her first,” said ’Lena, and leading the way Anna soon ushered her into her grandmother’s room which, child as she was, ’Lena readily saw was far different from the handsome apartments of which she had obtained a passing glance.
But Mrs. Nichols had not thought of this—and was doubtless better satisfied with her present quarters than she would have been with the best furnished chamber in the house. The moment her granddaughter appeared, she exclaimed, “’Leny Rivers, where have you been? I was worried to death, for fear you might be runnin’ after some of them paltry niggers. And now whilst I think on’t, I charge you never to go a nigh ’em; I’d no idee they were such half-naked, nasty critters.”
This prohibition was a novelty to Anna, who spent many happy hours with her sable-hued companions, never deeming herself the worse for it. Her grandmother’s first remark, however, struck her still more forcibly, and she immediately asked, “Grandma, what did you call ’Lena, just now? ’Lena what?”
“I called her by her name, ’Lena Rivers. What should I call her?” returned Mrs. Nichols.
“Why, I thought her name was ’Lena Nichols; ma said ’twas,” answered Anna.
Mrs. Nichols was very sensitive to any slight cast upon ’Lena’s birth, and she rather tartly informed Anna, that “her mother didn’t know everything,” adding that “’Lena’s father was Mr. Rivers, and there wasn’t half so much reason why she should be called Nichols as there was why Anna should, for that was her father’s name, the one by which he was baptized, the same day with Nancy Scovandyke, who’s jest his age, only he was born about a quarter past four in the morning, and she not till some time in the afternoon!”
“But where is Mr. Rivers?” asked Anna more interested in him than in the exact minute of her father’s birth.
“The Lord only knows,” returned Mrs. Nichols. “Little girls shouldn’t ask too many questions.”
This silenced Anna, and satisfied her that there was some mystery connected with ’Lena. The mention of Nancy Scovandyke reminded Mrs. Nichols of the dishes which that lady had packed away, and anxious to see if they were safe, she turned to ’Lena saying, “I guess we’ll have time before dinner to unpack my trunks, for I want to know how the crockery stood the racket. Anny, you run down and tell your pa to fetch ’em up here, that’s a good girl.”