hab dere weddin’.  I’s pow’ful glad she’s gwine dar, instid ob ole Miss Keswick comin’ h’yar.  I don’ wan’ her kunjerin’ me, an’ she’d do dat as quick as winkin’ ef de batter bread’s a leetle burned, or dar’s too much salt in de soup.  You’s got to keep youse’f mighty straight, you Peggy, when you gits whar ole Miss Keswick is.  Don’ you come none ob your fool tricks, or she kunjer you, an’ one ob your legs curl up like a pig’s tail, an’ neber uncurl no moh’.  How you like dat?”

To this Peggy made no reply, but with her eyes steadfastly fixed on Aunt Judy, and her lower jaw very much dropped, she mentally resolved to keep herself as straight as possible during her stay at the Keswick’s.

“Dar’s ole Aun’ Patsy,” continued the speaker.  “It’s a mighty long time sence I’ve seen Aun’ Patsy.  Dat was when I went ober dar wid Miss Rob’s mudder when de two fam’lys was fren’s.  I was her maid, an’ went wid her jes as Mahs’ Robert wants you ter go ’long wid Miss Rob.  He ain’t gwine to furgit how they did in de ole times when de ladies went visitin’ in dere kerridges fur to stay free, four days.  Aun’ Patsy were pow’ful ole den, but she didn’t die soon ‘nuf, an’ ole Miss Keswick she kunjer her, an’ now she can’t die at all.”

“Neber die!” ejaculated Peggy.

“Neber die, nohow!” answered Aunt Judy.  “Mighty offen she thought she gwine to die but ‘twarnt no use.  She can’t do it.  An’ de las’ time I hear ob her, she alibe yit, jes’ de same as eber.  An’ dar was Mahs’ John Keswick.  She cunjer him coz he rode de gray colt to de Coht House when she done tole him to let dat gray colt alone, coz ’twarnt hisen but hern, an’ he go shoot hese’f dead by de gate pos’.  You’s got to go fru by dat pos’ when you go inter de gate.”

“Dat same pos’!” cried Peggy.

“Yaas,” said Aunt Judy, “dat same one.  An’ dey tells me dat on third Chewsdays, which is Coht day, de same as when he took de gray colt, as soon as it git dark he ghos’ climb up to de top ob dat pos’, an’ set dar all night.”

With a conjuring old woman in the house, and a monthly ghost on the gate-post outside, the Keswick residence did not appear as attractive to Peggy as it had done before, but she mentally determined that while she was there she would be very careful to look put sharp for herself, a performance for which she was very well adapted.

It was on a pleasant autumn morning that Mr Brandon very carefully ensconced his niece in the family carriage, with Peggy and a trusty negro man, Sam, on the outside front seat.  “I would gladly go with you, my dear,” he said, “even without the formality of an invitation, but it is far better for you to go by yourself.  My very presence would provoke an antagonism in the old lady, while with you, personally, it is impossible that any such feeling should exist.  I hope your visit may do away with all ill feeling between our families.”

“I want you to understand, uncle,” said Miss Roberta, “that I am making this visit almost entirely to please you, and I shall do everything in my power to make Mrs Keswick feel that you and I are perfectly well disposed toward her; but you can’t expect me to exhibit any great warmth of friendship toward a person who once used such remarkable and violent expressions in regard to me.”