Carleton pack. Early in the fore-noon they
were ready. Mr. Robert Waite's carriage was at the door, with Mr. Waite,
who had come to escort them on the first stage of their journey.
"I wish I could say good-bye to Grace," said Sylvia as she went down the
steps of the porch. She was all ready to enter the carriage when she
heard her name called: "Sylvia! Sylvia!" and Grace came flying up the
path.
"Grace! Grace!" responded Sylvia, and for a moment the two little girls,
"Yankee" and southern girl, clung closely together, while the noise of
the echoing guns from the forts boomed over the harbor.
"We will always be friends, won't we, Sylvia?" said Grace; and Sylvia
responded "Always." Then with one more good-bye kiss Grace turned and
ran back to Mammy Esther. She had persuaded her mother to bring her to
Charleston that she might bid Sylvia good-bye, and now they would hasten
back to the country, for Charleston might be attacked by United States
ships of war, and was no longer a place of safety.
The Fultons now entered the carriage. Aunt Connie and Estralla were the
only members of the party who were smiling and happy. To Estralla it was
the most wonderful day of her life. She was free. And with her mammy and
her Missy Sylvia she was starting for a world where little colored girls
could go to school, just as white children did, and never be bought or
sold. She looked at Sylvia with adoring eyes.
"What are you thinking of, Estralla?" asked Sylvia.
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