At that the little head was lifted, and a smile broke like a sunbeam through the rain of tears.
"Papa!" she exclaimed, "will Elsie see her dear papa dere? Den I won't cry any more!" and she wiped away her tears. "Don't cry, Aunt Phillis and Aunt Sally, and de rest of you; my papa will bring me back again."
"Dat be a long time off!" muttered Aunt Phillis, shaking her head as she moved slowly away.
"Roselands, your grandpa's and papa's home, is a very pretty place," Mildred went on, still caressing the shining curls, "and there are little boys and girls there that Elsie can play with."
"Brothers and sisters for me?" asked the little one joyously.
"Your papa's brothers and sisters, nice playfellows for you," Mildred answered. "There is Enna, who is just a baby girl, only two years old."
"I's four, I's big girl," put in the child.
"Yes; and Walter is past three, nearly as old as you; and what nice plays you can have together."
"Yes, I want to take him a present; and one for the baby, and--what's dere names? de other children?"
Mildred went over the list, and the baby girl repeated her wish to take a gift to each.
"We will ask your grandpa about it," Mildred said.
"Has dey dot a mamma?" was the next query; and that being answered in the affirmative, the wish was expressed that she, too, should be remembered with a pretty present, and that Cousin Milly would ask grandpa's permission for all these purchases.
Mildred took an early opportunity to do so.
"Who has put that nonsense into the child's head?" he asked in some vexation.
"No one, uncle; it was entirely her own idea; perhaps suggested by the thought of her proposed gifts to those she leaves behind."
"Very likely; but let her forget it. I do not want to encourage her spending money upon my family."
"But her heart is very full of it, uncle, and I really think it would help to reconcile her to leaving Viamede. I'm afraid, uncle, that is going to be a hard trial for the little creature; for she dearly loves her home, and her people, as she calls the negroes."
"She will soon forget it all, and perhaps like Roselands quite as well. Childish griefs are not lasting."
"But terribly hard while they do last, uncle. I am not so old yet as to have forgotton that."