I knew what he would say, but for the sake of hearing it once more, I had braved his quick look of commiseration for my shallowness of understanding. "Yes, seh, Mahstah Majah, Ah knows 'bout that theah 'mancipation Procalmashum. But Ah was a ve'y diffunt matteh. Yo'-all see Ah was made oveh t' Miss Cahline pussenly by Ole Mahstah. Yes, seh, Ah been Miss Catiline's pussenal propity fo' a consid'able length of time, eveh sence she was Little Miss." "But you are free, just the same, now." He looked upon me with troubled, grave eyes. "Well, seh, Mahstah Majah, Ah ain't eveh raghtly comp'ehended, but Ah've reckoned that theah wah business an' Procalmashum an' so fothe was fo' common niggehs an' fiel' han's an' sech what b'long to th' place. But Ah was diffunt. Ah ain't b'longed to th' place. Ah b'longed to Miss Cahline lak Ah endeaveh to explain. Ah was a house niggeh an' futhamoah an' notwithstandin' Ah was th' pussenal propity of Miss Cahline. Yes, seh, Ah b'long dreckly to huh--an' Ah bet them theah lawyehs at Wash'nt'n, seh, couldn't kentrive none a' they laws that woulda teched _me_, seh. No, seh--they cain't lay th' law to Miss Cahline's pussenalities. She ain't go'n' a' stan' no nonsense lahk _that_, seh; she ain't go'n a' have no lawyeh mixin' up in huh private mattehs. Ah lahk t' see one _try_ it--yes, seh." He gazed vacantly into the distance, then laughed aloud as he beheld the discomfiture of the "lawyeh" in this suppositious proceeding. "And you even let your wife go?--that must have been hard." "Well, seh, not to _say_ mah wife. Mah raght wife, she daid--an' then Ah mahied this yeh light-shaded gehl fum th' quahtahs, an' she's wild an' misled--yes, seh." Again he was troubled, but I held him to it. "You thought a good deal of her, didn't you, Clem?" He studied a moment as he rearranged the roses in the bowl on the table, seeking a way to let me understand. Then he sighed hopelessly.