this morning One-eye Beljus showed Genesis Willie’s name written down in this book, an’ One-eye Beljus asked Genesis if he knew anybody by that name an’ all about him.  Well, an’ so at first Genesis pretended he was tryin’ to remember, because he wanted to find out what Willie went there for.  Genesis didn’t tell any stories, mamma; he just pretended he couldn’t remember, an’ so, well, One-eye Beljus kept talkin’ an’ pretty soon Genesis found out all about it.  One-eye Beljus said Willie came in there an’ tried on the coat of one of those waiter suits—­”

“Oh no!” gasped Mrs. Baxter.

“Yes’m, an’ One-eye Beljus said it was the only one that would fit Willie, an’ One-eye Beljus told Willie that suit was worth fourteen dollars, an’ Willie said he didn’t have any money, but he’d like to trade something else for it.  Well, an’ so One-eye Beljus said this was an awful fine suit an’ the only one he had that had b’longed to a white gentleman.  Well, an’ so they bargained, an’ bargained, an’ bargained, an’ bargained!  An’ then, well, an’ so at last Willie said he’d go an’ get everything that b’longed to him, an’ One-eye Beljus could pick out enough to make fourteen dollars’ worth, an’ then Willie could have the suit.  Well, an’ so Willie came home an’ put everything he had that b’longed to him into those two baskets, mamma—­that’s just what he did, ’cause Genesis says he told One-eye Beljus it was everything that b’longed to him, an’ that would take two baskets, mamma.  Well, then, an’ so he told One-eye Beljus to pick out fourteen dollars’ worth, an’ One-eye Beljus ast Willie if he didn’t have a watch.  Well, Willie took out his watch an’ One-eye Beljus said it was an awful bad watch, but he would put it in for a dollar; an’ he said, ’I’ll put your necktie pin in for forty cents more,’ so Willie took it out of his necktie an’ then One-eye Beljus said it would take all the things in the baskets to make I forget how much, mamma, an’ the watch would be a dollar more, an’ the pin forty cents, an’ that would leave just three dollars an’ sixty cents more for Willie to pay before he could get the suit.”

Mrs. Baxter’s face had become suffused with high color, but she wished to know all that Genesis had said, and, mastering her feelings with an effort, she told Jane to proceed—­a command obeyed after Jane had taken several long breaths.

“Well, an’ so the worst part of it is, Genesis says, it’s because that suit is haunted.”

“What!”

“Yes’m,” said Jane, solemnly; “Genesis says it’s haunted.  Genesis says everybody over on the avynoo knows all about that suit, an’ he says that’s why One-eye Beljus never could sell it before.  Genesis says One-eye Beljus tried to sell it to a colored man for three dollars, but the man said he wouldn’t put in on for three hunderd dollars, an’ Genesis says he wouldn’t, either, because it belonged to a Dago waiter that—­that—­” Jane’s voice sank to a whisper of unctuous horror.  She was having a wonderful time!  “Mamma, this Dago waiter, he lived over on the avynoo, an’ he took a case-knife he’d sharpened—­an’ he cut A lady’s head off with it!”