“Wid dat, I whipt out er de room an’ out er de house an’ went an’ sot down out dar in my house whar Hamp was at. Hamp, he ’low, ‘What she say?’ I say, ‘She ain’t had time ter say nothin’—I come ’way fum dar.’ He ’low, ‘You ain’t brung dat money back, is you?’ I say: ‘Does you think I’m a start naked fool?’ He ’low: ’Kaze ef you is, I’ll put it right spang in de fire here.’ “Well, suh, I sot dar some little time, but eve’ything wuz so still in de house, bein’s Marse Tumlin done gone down town, dat I crope back an’ crope in fer ter see what Miss Vallie doin’. Well, suh, she wuz cryin’—settin’ dar cryin’. I ’low, ‘Honey, is I say anything fer ter hurt yo’ feelin’s?’ She blubber’ out, ‘You know you ain’t!’ an’ den she cry good-fashion. “Des ’bout dat time, who should come in but Marse Tumlin. He look at Miss Vallie an’ den he look at me. He say, ‘Valentine, what de matter?’ I say, ‘It’s me! I’m de one! I made ’er cry. I done sump’n ter hurt ’er feelin’s.’ She ’low, ‘’Tain’t so, an’ you know it. I’m des cryin’ bekaze you too good ter me.’ [Illustration: “She wuz cryin’—settin’ dar cryin’.”] “Well, suh, I had ter git out er dar fer ter keep fum chokin’. Marse Tumlin foller me out, an’ right here on de porch, he ’low, ‘Minervy Ann, nex’ time don’t be so dam good to ’er.’ I wuz doin’ some snifflin’ myse’f ’bout dat time, an’ I ain’t keerin’ what I say, so I stop an’ flung back at ’im, ‘_I’ll be des ez dam good ter ’er ez I please—I’m free!_’ Well, suh, stidder hittin’ me, Marse Tumlin bust out laughin’, an’ long atter dat he’d laugh eve’y time he look at me, des like sump’n wuz ticklin’ ’im mighty nigh ter death. “I ’speck he must er tol’ ’bout dat cussin’ part, bekaze folks ’roun’ here done got de idee dat I’m a sassy an’ bad-tempered ’oman. Ef I had ter work fer my livin’, suh, I boun’ you I’d be a long time findin’ a place. Atter dat, Hamp, he got in de Legislatur’, an’ it sho wuz a money-makin’ place. Den we had eve’ything we wanted, an’ mo’ too, but bimeby de Legislatur’ gun out, an’ den dar we wuz, flat ez flounders, an’ de white folks don’t want ter hire Hamp des kaze he been ter de Legislatur’; but he got back in de liberty stable atter so long a time. Yit ’twan’t what you may call livin’.