De Cunnel's paw set dem trees out de same year
he bought Carline. Lord, I certainly wuz gone on dat yaller gal! But I
didn't know nothin' 'bout courtin'. Carline she wuz better qualified
though, an' she made me ast Old Miss ef I couldn't hab her fer my
wife. We didn't need no Bible nor preacher, nor sech foolishness in
dem days. But when Old Miss wuz willin' we jus' dress up an' walk ober
de place an' tell all de niggers we wuz married. Umph, umph! But I wuz
proud dat day! I had on a bran' new pair ob pants dat cost two-hundred
an' sixty-fo' dollars in Confederate money! When Mr. Abe Lincum set us
niggers free, dey made us git married all ober agin wid a preacher an'
a Bible, but I never seed no diffunce."
"Does Mrs.--Mrs. Queerington ever come back to Thornwood?" asked the
stranger, stumbling over the name as if it were very hard for him to
say.
"Yas, sir, she comes jes' lak me an' Carline, an' wanders roun' de
house an' de garden, an' sets in de ole barrel hammock, studyin' to
herself."
"And Mike,--what became of him?"
Uncle Jimpson looked at him in surprise, "How'd you know about Mike,
Mister?"
"Didn't you speak of him a while ago; wasn't he the dog?"
"Yas, sir.
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