“But you are free, just the same, now.”

He looked upon me with troubled, grave eyes.

“Well, seh, Mahstah Majah, Ah ain’t eveh raghtly comp’ehended, but Ah’ve reckoned that theah wah business an’ Procalmashum an’ so fothe was fo’ common niggehs an’ fiel’ han’s an’ sech what b’long to th’ place.  But Ah was diffunt.  Ah ain’t b’longed to th’ place.  Ah b’longed to Miss Cahline lak Ah endeaveh to explain.  Ah was a house niggeh an’ futhamoah an’ notwithstandin’ Ah was th’ pussenal propity of Miss Cahline.  Yes, seh, Ah b’long dreckly to huh—­an’ Ah bet them theah lawyehs at Wash’nt’n, seh, couldn’t kentrive none a’ they laws that woulda teched me, seh.  No, seh—­they cain’t lay th’ law to Miss Cahline’s pussenalities.  She ain’t go’n’ a’ stan’ no nonsense lahk that, seh; she ain’t go’n a’ have no lawyeh mixin’ up in huh private mattehs.  Ah lahk t’ see one try it—­yes, seh.”

He gazed vacantly into the distance, then laughed aloud as he beheld the discomfiture of the “lawyeh” in this suppositious proceeding.

“And you even let your wife go?—­that must have been hard.”

“Well, seh, not to say mah wife.  Mah raght wife, she daid—­an’ then Ah mahied this yeh light-shaded gehl fum th’ quahtahs, an’ she’s wild an’ misled—­yes, seh.”

Again he was troubled, but I held him to it.

“You thought a good deal of her, didn’t you, Clem?”

He studied a moment as he rearranged the roses in the bowl on the table, seeking a way to let me understand.  Then he sighed hopelessly.

“Well, Mahstah Majah, Genevieve she cyahed a raght smaht fo’ me, also, an’ she mek it up fo’ me t’ come along t’ town with huh.  She sais Ah git a mewl an’ a fahm an’ thousan’ dollehs money fum yo’ Nawthen President an’ we all live lahk th’ quality.  But, yo’-all see, th’ ole Mahstah Cunnel say when he go off to th’ wah, ‘Clem, yo’ black houn’, ef Ah doan’ eveh come back, these yeh ladies is lef in yo’ pussenal chahge.  Yo’ unde’stan’ that? Yo’ go on an’ do fo’ ’em jes’ lahk Ah was yeh.’  An’ young Mahstah Cap’n Bev’ly,—­he’s Little Miss’s engaged-to-mahy genaman,—­he sais, ‘Clem, ef Ah doan’ neveh come back, Ah pray an’ entrus’ yo’-all t’ cyah fo’ Miss Kate an’ huh Maw jes lahk Ah was yeh on th’ spot.’  An Ah said, ‘Yes, seh,’ an’ they ain’t neithah one a’ them eveh did come back.  Mahstah Cunnel he daid by th’ hand o’ yo’ Nawthen President at th’ battle a’ Seven Pines, an’ Mahstah Cap’n Bev’ly Glentwo’th—­yo’ ole Mahstah Gen’al She’dan shoot him all t’ pieces in his chest one day.  So theah Ah is—­Ah cain’t leave—­an’ Genevieve comes a’ repohtin’ huhse’f to mek mah rediments, ‘cause we all free an’ go’n’ a’ go t’ Richmond t’ live high an’ maghty, an’ Ah sais, ’Ah’m Miss Cahline’s pussenal propity—­Ah ain’t no fiel’ niggeh!’ She sais, ‘Is yo’ a’ comin’ aw is you ain’t a-comin’?’ Ah sais, ’Ole Cunnel daid, young Cap’n daid—­yo’ go ‘long an’ min’ yo’ own mindin’s—­’”