Maid Marian, and Other StoriesSeawell, Molly Elliot
General
Maid Marian, and Other Stories
Seawell, Molly Elliot
Manners and customs -- Fiction; Short stories, American
"Jes' den ole marse come out. He look so white it skeered me. Little
missy raise her head, but de orficer wouldn't let go her han'. Ole
marse he shake like he hed de ager, an' he say: 'Take yo' choice. Go
wid dat man, an' take yo' father's curse, an' never darken these
doors, or sen' him away where he b'longs, an' never speak ter him
again.' De orficer say: 'Colonel Baskerville, I love your daughter,
an' she loves me. You can't separate us.' But ole marse he p'int he
finger, an' he holler, 'Take yo' choice.' An' little missy she stan'
fur a minnit or two like stone, an' den she take her han' away an'
say, 'Father can't do without me. It would kill him. You must go.' De
orficer he look like he would hol' on ter her, but she turn an' walk in
de house, an' he got on he horse, lookin' black an mizerbul, an' gallop
off as hard as he could.
"I seed a look naix day in little missy's face like missis when dey
got dat letter 'bout Georgie. She was gwine ter die--I knowed it.
Warn't nuttin' matter wid her--she went like missis. Ole marse he done
ev'ything fur her; she never say a cross word ter him, but I b'lieve
he wish she hed. Ev'y night I ondress her an' put her ter bed like
when she was a little gal, an' ev'y night she got lighter an' lighter.
'Oh, mammy,' she would say, 'I'm so tired!' an' she didn't do nuttin'
either. Ole marse he walk de floor all night. I heerd him, an' so did
little missy. 'Poor father!' she would say. Den one day, arter de
doctor hed been here an' gone, ole marse he go in de library an' he
write a letter, an' he tear it up; an' he write 'nother one, an' he
tear dat one up; an' at las' he write one an' he tooken it upst'yars
an' he lay it on little missy's bed an' went out. 'Twas ter de orficer.
Little missy she read it, an' she say, 'It's too late.' An' sho 'nough,
'twas."
She stopped again and paused. The shadows were very long by this. It
was nearly night.
"He got here befo' dey put her in de groun'. He stan' by de grave, an'
when de yearth fell in on de coffin he say to hisself, 'Amy! Amy!'
"I stayed by ole marse. I knowed 'twarn't fur long. It come one day
when he was settin' in he cheer on de porch. He didn't move fur so
long I was skeered. I went up to him, an' he was dead. Arter dat I
went away. De orficer he give me some money, an' he tole me he'd sen'
me some mo' ev'y year--an' dat's what I lives on. I c'yarn come here
no mo'. I c'yarn go to de graveyard. Evy'whar I sees my chillen like
when dey was little. I hear little missy sayin', 'Kethiah! Kethiah!' I
'spects ter see 'em soon, an' I wants ter tell 'em 'bout de ole place.
I thankee kindly fur takin' keer o' things."
She limped down the steps and soon was far down the narrow path, and
her bent and crippled form melted away into the twilight.
THE SEA FORTUNES OF DICKY CAREW.
I.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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