"I wonder would dey exchange pris'ners; wonder ef
I could go up an' serve out Cissie's term."
"Oh, Tump!" gasped the woman, "ef you only could!"
"I'll step an' see, Miss Vannie. 'At sho ain't no place fuh a nice gal
lak Cissie." Tump turned on his mission, evidently intending to walk to
Jonesboro and offer himself in the place of the prisoner.
Peter supported Vannie back into the poor living-room, and placed her in
the old rocking-chair before the empty hearth. There was where he had
sat the evening Cissie made her painful confession to him. Only now did
he realize the whole of what Cissie was trying to confess.
Peter Siner overtook Tump Pack a little way down the crescent, opposite
the Berry cabin. The thoroughfare was deserted, because the weather was
cold and the scantily clad children were indoors. However, from every
cabin came sound of laughing and romping, and now and then a youngster
darted through the cold from one hut to another.
It seemed to Peter Siner only a little while since he and Ida May were
skittering through wintry weather from one fire to another, with Cissie,
a wailing, wet-nosed little spoil-sport, trailing after them.
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