“Wellum, de days went an’ de days come. Bimeby I hear some er de niggers say dat Mary Ellen done come back. I laid off ter go an’ see de chile; but one day I wuz gwine ’long de street an’ I met a white lady. She say, ‘Ain’t dat Aunt Minervy Ann?’ I ’low, ‘Yessum, dis is de remnants.’ Wid dat, ma’am, she grab me ’roun’ de neck an’ hug me, an’ bu’st out a-cryin’, an’ ’twa’n’t nobody in de worl’ but Mary Ellen. “Purty! I never has foun’ out, ma’am, how any human can be ez purty ez Mary Ellen. Her skin wuz white ez milk an’ her eyes shine like stars. I’d ’a’ never know’d her in de worl’. But dar she wuz, cryin’ one minnit an’ laughin’ de nex’. An’ she wuz in trouble too. She had a telegraph in her han’ tellin’ ’er dat one er her ol’ schoolmates gwine on ter Flurridy wuz gwine ter stop over one train des ter see Mary Ellen. Hit seem like dat up dar whar she been stayin’ at she ain’t never tell nobody but what she wuz white, an’ de human wa’n’t born dat could tell de diffunce. So dar ’twuz. Here wuz de Northron lady comin’ fer ter see Mary Ellen, an’ what wuz Mary Ellen gwine ter do?—whar wuz she gwine ter take de Northron lady? Dar wuz de ramshackle cabin, an’ dar wuz my kitchen. You may think ’twuz funny, ma’am——” “But I don’t,” said the lady of the house, abruptly and unexpectedly; “I don’t think it was funny at all.” Aunt Minervy Ann looked at me and lifted her chin triumphantly, as she resumed: “No’m, ’twa’n’t funny. Mary Ellen wuz proud an’ high-strung; you could read dat in de way she walk an’ eve’y motion she make, an’ dat ar telegraph dat de Northron lady sont ’er fum Atlanty kinder run ’er in a corner. She dunner what ter do, ner which way ter turn. Look at it yo’se’f, ma’am, an’ see whar she wuz. “She laughed, ma’am, but she wuz in trouble, an’ I’m sech a big fool dat I’m allers in trouble ’long wid dem what I like. Take de tape-line ter der trouble an’ den ter mine, an’ you’ll fin’ dat dey medjer ’bout de same. Mary Ellen laugh an’ say, ‘Dey’s two things I kin do; I kin leave town, er I kin go down dar ter de cabin an’ kill myse’f.’ Oh, she wuz in a corner, ma’am—don’t you doubt it. “Right den an’ dar sump’n pop in my head. I ’low, ‘Is you been ter call on Marse Bolivar Blasengame?’ She say ‘No, I ain’t, Aunt Minervy Ann. I started ter go, but I’m afear’d ter.’ I ’low, ‘Well, I’m gwine dar right now; come go wid me.’ “So we went dar, and I left Mary Ellen on de back porch, an’ I went in de house. Marse Bolivar wuz settin’ down, gwine over some papers, an’ Mis’ Em’ly wuz darnin’ an’ patchin’. “I say, ‘Marse Bolivar, dey’s a gal out here dat I thought maybe you an’ Mis’ Em’ly would be glad ter see?” “He ’low, ‘Dang you’ hide, Minervy Ann! You like ter make me jump out’n my skin. Who is de gal?’