de laudamy an' der retentions, an' you mus'
fight it out yourself, chile! I is afraid to go one step furder; but de
debble sort o' tempted me dis mornin' to make a clean breast of der
doins. Ef you mentions it, do; I is retermined to reny ebbery word of
your ramification, and in dis here country a nigger's word, dey tells
me, goes jus' as fur as a pore white gal's, if not furder; 'sides dat, I
is gwine to swar favorable for my 'ployers, in course, at de
court-house--unless"--hesitating and leering in my face--"you sees,
honey, dey have not paid me yit--and mebbe dey won't, ef I displeases
'em, an' your gole watch is gone; an' den, Dinah would be lef' on de
shelf."

"But I have other property, Dinah, other jewels, even. That watch was
very little compared to what I possess outside of these prison-walls,
and these possessions--"

"Whar is dey, honey? 'a bird in dis han' am worf two dozen in a bush,'
as my ole masta used to say, wen de traders cum up to buy his corn an'
cotton, an' I always sawed de dollars come down mighty quick after dat
sayin' of his'n; for I used to watch round the dinin'-room pretty
constant an' close in dem days, totin' in poplar-chips an' corn-cobs for
kin'lin' an' litin' masta's long clay pipes--none ob de common sort, I
tells you--an' brushin' up de harf an' keepin' off' de flies, and so
forf. You see I was a little shaver in dem days, an' masta liked my
Congo straction, an' petted me a heap, an' I never seed the cotton-field
till my ole masta died; den dey put me out ob de house, because Mass
Jack Dillard's father--dat was my ole mistis's own step-brother's secon'
son--he 'cused me ob stealin' his gole pencil-case wrongfully--like I
had any use fur his writin' 'tensils!" (indignantly).

"Dinah," I adjured, cutting short the stream of her narrative, "for
God's sake, see Mr. McDermot, and tell him of my situation! He shall
have a thousand dollars to-morrow, and you also shall have money enough
to buy your whole family, and bring them hither, if you will but assist
me to escape _this_ night. Don't stand and look at me, woman, but act at
once, if you have a human heart. You must help me now, or never."

"You mus' tink I's one ob de born fools, Miss Mirimy, to bl'eve all dat
stuff! Doesn't I know you loss all your trunks on de 'Scusco, an' wasn't
you a pore gal, teachin' white folks's chilluns fur a livin' before? I
has hearn all dat discounted since I come into dis 'stablishment. We
all knows as