Massa Davy--better dan all de
worle.'

The scene, had they not been black, would have been one for a painter.

'You were the Colonel's nurse, Aunty,' I said, when she had regained her
composure. 'Have you always lived with him?'

'Yas, sar, allers; I nussed him, and den de chil'ren--all ob 'em.'

'All the children? I thought the Colonel had but one--Miss Clara.'

'Wal, he habn't, massa, only de boys.'

'What boys? I never heard he had sons.'

'Neber heerd of young Massa Davy, nor Massa Tommy! Hain't you _seed_
Massa Tommy, sar?'

'Tommy! I was told he was Madam P----'s son.'

'So he am; Massa Davy had _her_ long afore he had missus.'

The truth flashed upon me; but could it be possible? Was I in South
Carolina or in Utah?

'Who is Madam P----?' I asked.

The old woman hesitated a moment, as if in doubt whether she had not
said too much; but Scip quietly replied,--

'She'm jess what aunty am--_de Cunnel's slave!_'

'His _slave_! it can't be possible; she is white!'

'No, massa; she am brack, and de Cunnel's slave!'

Not to weary the reader with a long repetition of negro-English, I will
tell in brief what I gleaned from an hour's conversation with the two
blacks.

Madam P---- was the daughter of Ex-Gov. ----, of Virginia, by a
quarteron woman. She was born a slave, but was acknowledged as her
father's child, and reared in his family with his legitimate children.
When she was ten years of age her father died, and his estate proving
insolvent, the land and negroes were brought under the hammer. His
daughter, never having been manumitted, was inventoried and sold with
the other property. The Colonel, then just of age, and a young man of
fortune, bought her and took her to the residence of his mother in
Charleston. A governess was provided for her, and a year or two
afterwards she was taken to the North to be educated. There she was
frequently visited by the Colonel; and when fifteen her condition became
such that she was obliged to return home. He conveyed her to the
plantation, where her elder son, David, was soon afterwards born, 'Aunt
Lucy' officiating on the occasion. When the child was two years old,
leaving it in charge of the aged negress, she accompanied the Colonel to
Europe, where they remained for a year. Subsequently she passed another
year at a Northern seminary; and then, returning to the plantation, was
duly installed as its mistress, and had ever since presided over its
domestic affairs