"I was there, parson." Regnan then told of the chill, the broken string, and the accident to the rider. By this time the people were around the edges of the room, leaving Kitty, Regnan, and the preacher in the middle. Regnan kissed his wife, and said: "Are you my Kitty?" "Since you and the parson are so much alike in dress and story, he may answer for me." "I will, my good woman." He said a few solemn words, and the important business of the night was over. For many days the town was alive with the story of Regnan's anniversary. Thereafter, whenever Regnan wished to tell Kitty the story he always played a march on the fiddle first. The preacher later turned his boy over to Regnan to be punished for his mischief. It was decided that he should go on the wagon with Regnan for three months and cry out: "Rags, old iron." The lad did so willingly. During his enforced apprenticeship his father died, leaving him homeless, as his mother had died in his infancy, and Regnan adopted the boy, who became a valuable assistant to the old man in his business. Before the lad was of age Regnan and Kitty both died, and left the preacher's son a snug little fortune. He kept the fiddle to remind him of the ways of Providence. "KOTCHIN' DE NINES" (A NEGRO TALE CURRENT IN LOUISVILLE) "Git up from dar. Whut's you dreamin' erbout? No need ter ask, fer I knows. You's dreamin' right now 'bout kotchin' dem nines. I bounds you dun had er dream last night. I knows it by dat smile in de corner of your mouth. You kin smile outen both corners, ef you wants ter, but you don't git dis fifty cents I got." "Old woman, I got er new dream." "Whut's it erbout?" "Dem nines." "Look heah, old man, you take dat dream and yourself an' go out ter dat woodpile so's I kin git some breakfast. You's got er dream, an' I'se got fifty cents, an' we's gwine ter keep whut we has." "I'se gwine ter tell you dis dream, ef I has ter pay you ter listen. Take dis dime." "Make your story mighty short. I wonder ef dis heah dime is tainted money. Ef it is---- Well, I reckons it ain't." "I wuz in er great big parlor, an' you an' de chillens wuz dar. An' it wuz in er great big house, an' you owns it." "Wuz I bossin' it?" "Oh, yes!" "Go on wid your dream, old man." "Dat parlor wuz so fine dat when you sneezed you asked de pictures on de wall ter 'scuse you." "Go on wid your dream, old man. We kin habe breakfast at dinner time." "When you walked on de cyarpet you fairly bounced up an' down, an' when de chillens played on de payano you said: 'Dis ain't heaven, but we's heah, and dat's de same thing.' De spoons an' knives an' forks was silver, an'----" "An' you's still got more ter say?" "Yes, an' everything else wuz jes' like whut de white folks has." "Whut bringed erbout all dat in your dream?" "It wuz kotchin' de nines in de lottery." "Is you sho you kin kotch 'em wid your eyes open?" "Dey's bound ter come wid dat dream back of 'em."