"You bawn fool!" shouted Aunt Judy. "You ain't got sense 'nuf to hock
the frocks ob de bridesmaids. An dat's all fool talk about Miss Rob
gwine dar to be married. When she an' Mahs' Junius hab de weddin',
dey'll hab it h'yar, ob course. She gwine to see ole Miss Keswick, coz
dat's de way de fus' fam'lies allus does afore dey hab dere weddin'. I's
pow'ful glad she's gwine dar, instid ob ole Miss Keswick comin' h'yar. I
don' wan' her kunjerin' me, an' she'd do dat as quick as winkin' ef de
batter bread's a leetle burned, or dar's too much salt in de soup. You's
got to keep youse'f mighty straight, you Peggy, when you gits whar ole
Miss Keswick is. Don' you come none ob your fool tricks, or she kunjer
you, an' one ob your legs curl up like a pig's tail, an' neber uncurl no
moh'. How you like dat?"
To this Peggy made no reply, but with her eyes steadfastly fixed on Aunt
Judy, and her lower jaw very much dropped, she mentally resolved to keep
herself as straight as possible during her stay at the Keswick's.
"Dar's ole Aun' Patsy," continued the speaker. "It's a mighty long time
sence I've seen Aun' Patsy. Dat was when I went ober dar wid Miss Rob's
mudder when de two fam'lys was fren's. I was her maid, an' went wid her
jes as Mahs' Robert wants you ter go 'long wid Miss Rob. He ain't gwine
to furgit how they did in de ole times when de ladies went visitin' in
dere kerridges fur to stay free, four days. Aun' Patsy were pow'ful ole
den, but she didn't die soon 'nuf, an' ole Miss Keswick she kunjer her,
an' now she can't die at all."
"Neber die!" ejaculated Peggy.
"Neber die, nohow!" answered Aunt Judy. "Mighty offen she thought she
gwine to die but 'twarnt no use. She can't do it. An' de las' time I
hear ob her, she alibe yit, jes' de same as eber. An' dar was Mahs' John
Keswick. She cunjer him coz he rode de gray colt to de Coht House when
she done tole him to let dat gray colt alone, coz 'twarnt hisen but
hern, an' he go shoot hese'f dead by de gate pos'. You's got to go fru
by dat pos' when you go inter de gate."
"Dat same pos'!" cried Peggy.
"Yaas," said Aunt Judy, "dat same one. An' dey tells me dat on third
Chewsdays, which is Coht day, de same as when he took de gray colt, as
soon as it git dark he ghos' climb up to de top ob dat pos', an' set dar
all night."
With a conjuring old woman in the house, and a monthly ghost on the
gate-post outside, the Keswick residence did not appear as attractive to
Peggy as it had done before, but she mentally determined that while she
was there she would be very careful to look out sharp for herself, a
performance for which she was very well adapted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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