Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/231

Rh gal 'way back in my gran'mammy's time."

"What kind of spells does she weave?' asked Rebecca, incredulously.

"Nobody don't know perzactly. She air kinder secret 'bout it an' kinder boastful. Sometimes she make out they ain't nothin' 'tall in it an' then agin she kinder give out in a sly backhanded way that she done some debblement that they ain't no undoin'. When I got took so bad twenty year ago she comed here ter my cabin an' sot up yonder an' larfed at me an' made me think she done cas' a spell over my limbs what made 'em give out on me. In my Christian heart I know'd she wa' a lyin', but in my nigger heart I couldn't help kinder b'lievin' of her.

"The doctor done said mo'n likely I'll be up an' aroun' agin, but Aunt Peachy done put her ban on that an' 'lowed I'm laid low to the end o' time. Brer Johnson 'ten' lak he ain't scairt er her, but th'ain't ary nigger in these parts what ain't kinder squeamy er Aunt Peachy."

"Are the white people afraid of her, too?"

"Some er the low-down whites is, but my folks ain't never made no min' over her. I reckon ol' Rolfe Bollin' air scairt er her. I don't reckon his wife air scairt er her 'ceptin' the way she mought be scairt er a rattlesnake. I ain't never been no han' fer a visitin' over the