nt in the group behind him, and
I could not but inquire how he came to perform so extraordinary a
ceremony.

"Dat I don' know, suh; but so 'twair. Fust information I had on it wuz
when I went down to ole Mis' Twine's to get he mont's weges. I received
de ontelligence on de way dat he had done lef dyah, an' dat ole
Mis' Twine gol' ring had lef by de same road at de same time. Dat
correspondence mortify me might'ly' cuz I hadn' raised P'laski no sich
a ways as dat. He was dat ooman's son to be sho' an' I knowed he
wuz wuthless, but still I hadn' respect him to steal ole Mis' Twine
wed-din'-ring, whar she wyah on her finger ev'y day, an' whar wuz gol'
too. I want de intimation 'bout de fo' dollars an' a half, so I went
'long; but soon as ole Mis' Twine see me she began to quoil. I tell her
I just come to git de reasonment o' de matter, an' I 'ain' got nuthin'
'tall to say 'bout P'laski. Dat jes like bresh on fire; she wuss'n
befo'. She so savigrous I tolt her I 'ain' nuver had nobody to
prevaricate nuttin' 'bout me; dat I b'longst to Doc' Macon, o' Hanover,
an' I ax her ef she knowed de Maconses. She say, nor, she 'ain' know
'em, nor she ain' nuver hearn on 'em, an' she wished she hadn' nuver
hearn on me an' my thievin' boy--dat's P'laski. Well, tell then, I
mighty consarned 'bout P'laski; but when she said she 'ain' nuver hearn
on the Maconses, I ain' altogether b'lieve P'laski done teck her ring,
cause I ain' know whether she got any ring; though I know sence the
tunament he mean enough for anything; an' I tolt her so, an' I tolt her
I wuz raised wid quality--sence she ain' know the Maconses, I ain' tole
her no mo' 'bout dem, 'cuz de Bible say you is not to cast pearls befo'
hawgs--an' dat I had tote de corn-house keys many a time, an' Marth' Ann
used to go in ole Mistis' trunks same as ole Mistis herself. Right dyah
she mought 'a' cotch me ef she had knowed that P'laski warn' Marth'
Ann's son; but she ain' know de Maconses, an' in cose she ain' 'quainted
wid de servants, so she don' know it. Well, suh, she rar an' she pitch.
Yo' nuver heah a ooman talk so befo' in yo' life; an' fust thing I knew
she gone in de house, she say she gwine git a gun an' run me off dat
lan', But I ain' wait for dat: don nobody have to git gun to run me off
dee lan'. I jes teck my foot in my han' an' come 'long way by myself,
'cuz I think maybe a ooman 'at could cuss like a man mout shoot like a
man too."

"Where did you go and what did you