Her husband remarked it with pleasure.
"Yes," she said lightly, "it is so nice to be going back to my old, childhood's home after so long an absence; to see mammy, too--dear old mammy! And yet it will hardly seem like home either, without mamma." "No," he responded; "and it is quite delightful to look forward to having her there again in a week or two." They had turned in at the great gates leading into the avenue, and presently Elsie, glancing eagerly toward the house, exclaimed with delight, "Ah, there is mammy on the veranda! watching for our coming, no doubt.

She knew we were expected at Fairview yesterday, and that I would not be long in finding my way to Ion." Evelyn, looking out also, perceived a bent and shriveled form, seated in an arm-chair, leaning forward, its two dusky hands clasping a stout cane, and its chin resting on the top.
As the carriage drew up before the entrance, the figure rose slowly and stiffly, and with the aid of the cane hobbled across the veranda to meet them.
"Bress de Lawd!" it cried, in accents tremulous with age and excitement, "it's one ob my chillens, sho' nuff; it's Miss Elsie!" "Yes, mammy, it is I; and very glad I am to see you," responded Mrs.
Leland, hurrying up the veranda steps and throwing Her arms about the feeble, trembling form.
"Poor old mammy," she said, tenderly; "you are not so strong as you used to be." "No, darlin', yo' ole mammy's mos' at de brink ob de riber; de cold watahs ob Jordan soon be creepin' up roun' her ole feet." "But you are not afraid, mammy ?" Elsie said, tears trembling in her sweet, soft eyes, so like her mother's.
"No, chile, no; for Ise got fas' hold ob de Master's hand, and He holds me tight; de waves can't go ober my head, kase He bought me wid his own precious blood and I b'longs to Him; and He always takes care ob his own chillens." "Yes, Aunt Chloe," Lester said, taking one withered hand in his, as Elsie withdrew herself from her embrace, and turned aside to wipe away a tear, "His purchased ones are safe for time and for eternity.
"'The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory.'" "Dat's so, sah; grace to lib by, an' grace to die by, den glory wid Him in heaben! Ole Uncle Joe done 'speriencin' dat now; an' byme-by dis chile be wid him dar." "Who dis ?" she asked, catching sight of Evelyn standing by her side and regarding her with tearful eyes.
"My niece, Evelyn Leland, Aunt Chloe," answered Lester.

"She has heard of you, and wanted to see you." "God bless you, honey," Chloe said, taking the little girl's hand in her's, and regarding her with a look of kindly interest.
But the other servants had come flocking to the veranda as the news of the arrival passed from lip to lip; and now they crowded about Lester and Elsie eager to shake their hands and bid them welcome home again, mingling with their rejoicings and congratulations many inquiries about their loved mistress--her mother--and the other absent members of the family.
And here, as at Fairview, Evelyn received her full share of pleased attention.
Elsie delivered her mother's messages and directions, and taking Evelyn with her, went through the house to see that all was in order for the reception of her brother and his wife, then sat down in the veranda for a chat with "mammy" before returning to Fairview.
"Mammy, dear," she said interrogatively, "you are not grieving very much for Uncle Joe ?" "No, chile, no; he's in dat bressed land whar dah no mo' misery in de back, in de head, in any part ob de body; an' no mo' sin, no mo' sorrow, no mo' dyin', no mo' tears fallin' down the cheeks, no mo' trouble any kin'." "But don't you miss him very much, Aunt Chloe ?" asked Evelyn softly, her voice tremulous with the thought of her own beloved dead, and how sorely she felt his absence.
"Yes, chile, sho I does, but 'twont be for long; Ise so ole and weak, dat I knows Ise mos' dar, mos' dar!" The black, wrinkled face uplifted to the sky, almost shone with glad expectancy, and the dim, sunken eyes grew bright for an instant with hope and joy.
Then turning them upon Evelyn, and, for the first time, taking note of her deep mourning, "Po' chile," she said, in tender, pitying tones, "yo's loss somebody dat yo' near kin ?" Evelyn nodded, her heart too full for speech, and Elsie said softly, "Her dear father has gone to be forever with the Lord, in the blessed, happy land you have been speaking of, mammy." "Bressed, happy man!" ejaculated the aged saint, again lifting her face heavenward, "an' bressed happy chile dat has de great an' mighty God for her father; kase de good book say, He is de father of de fatherless." A momentary hush fell upon the little group.

Then Mr.Leland, who had been looking into the condition of field and garden, as his wife into that of the house, joined them and suggested that this would be a good time and place for the telling of the story Eva had been asking for; especially as, in Aunt Chloe, they had a second eye-witness.
Elsie explained to her what was wanted.
"Ah, chillens, dat was a terrible time," returned the old woman, sighing and shaking her head.
"Yes, mammy," assented Elsie; "you remember it well ?" "Deed I does, chile;" and rousing with the recollection into almost youthful excitement and energy, she plunged into the story, telling it in a graphic way that enchained her listeners, though to two of them it was not new, and one occasionally assisted her memory or supplied a missing link in the chain of circumstances.[A] [Footnote A: For the details of this story, see "Elsie's Motherhood."].