“Bimeby, Miss Vallie, she come in de dinin’-room fer ter look atter settin’ de table, bekaze fum a little gal she allers like ter have de dishes fix des so. She wuz sorter hummin’ a chune, like she ain’t want’ ter talk, but I ain’t let dat stan’ in my way. “I ’low, ‘I wish eve’ybody wuz like dat Mr. Paul Conant. I bet you right now he been down town dar all day makin’ money han’ over fist, des ez fast ez he can rake it in. I know it, kaze I does his washin’ and cleans up his room fer ’im.’ “Miss Vallie say, ‘Well, what uv it? Money don’t make ’im no better’n anybody else.’ I ’low, ‘Hit don’t make ’im no wuss; an’ den, ’sides dat, he ain’t gwine ter let nobody swindle ’im.’ “By dat time, I hatter go out an’ fetch supper in, an’ ’tain’t take me no time, bekaze I wuz des’ achin’ fer ter hear how Marse Tumlin come by dem ar contraptions an’ contrivances. An’ I stayed in dar ter wait on de table, which it ain’t need no waitin’ on. “Atter while, I ’low, ‘Marse Tumlin, I like ter forgot ter tell you—yo’ things done come.’ He say, ‘What things, Minervy Ann?’ I ’low, ‘Dem ar contraptions, an’ dat ar bob-tail hoss. He look mighty lean an’ hongry, de hoss do, but Hamp he say dat’s bekaze he’s a high-bred hoss. He say dem ar high-bred hosses won’t take on no fat, no matter how much you feed um.’ “Marse Tumlin sorter drum on de table. Atter while he ’low, ‘Dey done come, is dey, Minervy Ann?’ I say, ‘Yasser, dey er here right now. Hamp puts it down dat dat ar hoss one er de gayliest creatur’s what ever make a track in dis town.’ “Well, suh, ’tain’t no use ter tell you what else wuz said, kaze ’twan’t much. I seed dat Marse Tumlin want gwine ter talk ’bout it, on account er bein’ ’fear’d he’d hurt Miss Vallie’s feelin’s ef he tol’ ’er dat he done swap off all dat wil’ lan’ fer dem ar things an’ dat ar bob-tail hoss. Dat what he done. Yasser! I hear ’im sesso atterwards. He swap it off ter Marse Paul Conant. “I thank my Lord it come out all right, but it come mighty nigh bein’ de ruination er de fambly.” “How was that?” I inquired. “Dat what I’m gwine ter tell you, suh. Right atter supper dat night, Marse Tumlin say he got ter go down town fer ter see a man on some business, an’ he ax me ef I won’t stay in de house dar wid Miss Vallie. ’Twa’n’t no trouble ter me, bekaze I’d ’a’ been on de place anyhow, an’ so when I got de kitchen cleaned up an’ de things put away, I went back in de house whar Miss Vallie wuz at. Marse Tumlin wuz done gone.