“Well, suh, dey went in, dey did, an’ I shot de do’ an’ tuck up my stan’ close by, ready fer to go in when Miss Sadie call me. I had myse’f keyed up ter de p’int whar I’d ’a’ tol’ Marse Gabe sump’n ’bout his own fambly connection; you know dey ain’t nobody but what got i’on rust on some er der cloze. But dey stayed in dar an’ stayed, twel I ’gun ter git oneasy. All kinder quare idees run th’oo my head. Atter while some un pull de do’ open, an’ hol’ it dat away, an’ I hear Marse Gabe say, wid a trimble an’ ketch in his th’oat, ‘Don’t talk so, chil’. Ef you done wrong, you ain’t hurt nobody but yo’se’f, an’ it oughtn’ter hurt you. You been a mighty big blessin’ ter me, an’ ter Fanny here, an’ I wouldn’t ’a’ missed knowin’ you, not fer nothin’. Wid dat, he come out cle’rin up his th’oat an’ blowin’ his nose twel it soun’ like a dinner-horn. His eye fell on me, an’ he ’low, ‘Look like you er allers on han’ when dey’s trouble.’ I made answer, ‘Well, Marse Gabe, dey might be wusser ones ’roun’ dan me.’ He look at me right hard an’ say, ‘Dey ain’t no better, Minervy Ann.’ Well, suh, little mo’ an’ I’d ’a’ broke down, it come so sudden. I had ter gulp hard an’ quick, I tell you. He say, ‘Minervy Ann, go back dar an’ tell de house-gal ter wake up de carriage-driver ef he’s ’sleep, an’ tell ’im to go meet Jesse at de train. An’ he mus’ tell Jesse dat we’d ’a’ all come, but his ma ain’t feelin’ so well.’ I say, ‘I’ll go wake ’im up myse’f, suh.’ I look in de parler an’ say, ‘Miss Sadie, does you need me right now?’ She ’low, ‘No, not right now; I’ll stay twel—twel Mr. Towers come.’ Miss Fanny wuz settin’ dar holdin’ Miss Sadie’s han’. “I’ll never tell you how dey patcht it up in dar, but I made a long guess. Fus’ an’ fo’mus’, dey wuz right down fon’ er Miss Sadie, an’ den ef she run off time Marse Jesse put his foot in de town dey’d be a big scandal; an’ so dey fix it up dat ef she wuz bleeze ter go, ’twuz better to go a mont’ er two atter Marse Jesse come back. Folks may like you mighty well, but dey allers got one eye on der own consarns. Dat de way I put it down. “Well, suh, de wuss job wuz lef’ fer de las’, ’kaze dar wuz Marse Jesse. Sump’n tol’ me dat he oughter know what been gwine on ’fo’ he got in de house, ’kaze den he won’t be aggervated inter sayin’ an’ doin’ sump’n he oughtn’ter. So when de carriage wuz ready, I got in an’ went down ter de depot; an’ when Marse Jesse got off de train, I wuz de fus’ one he laid eyes on. I’d ’a’ never know’d ’im in de worl’, but he know’d me. He holler out, ‘Ef dar ain’t Aunt Minervy Ann! Bless yo’ ol’ soul! how you come on anyhow?’ He come mighty nigh huggin’ me, he wuz so glad ter see me. He wuz big ez a skinned hoss an’ strong ez a mule. He say, ‘Ef I had you in my min’ once, Aunt Minervy Ann, I had you in dar ten thousan’ times.’