The old man's lip was
quivering, and something very like a tear stood in each eye.
"I can't hab nuffin' happen to de fambly, Major. You know our folks
is quality, an' always was, an' I dassent look my mistress in de face
if anythin' teches Marsa George." Then bending down he said in a hoarse
whisper: "See dat old clock out dar wid his eye wide open? Know what's
down below dat in de cellar? De jail!" And two tears rolled down his
cheeks.
* * * * *
It was some time before I could quiet the old man's anxieties and coax
him back into his usual good humor, and then only when I began to ask
him of the old plantation days.
Then he fell to talking about the colonel's father, General John Carter,
and the high days at Carter Hall when Miss Nancy was a young lady and
the colonel a boy home from the university.
[Illustration]
"Dem was high times. We ain't neber seed no time like dat since de
war. Git up in de mawnin' an' look out ober de lawn, an' yer come
fo'teen or fifteen couples ob de fustest quality folks, all on horseback
ridin' in de gate.
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