Page:The Berkeleys and their neighbors.djvu/47

 among his confrères because of his superior advantages and accomplishments as well as his assumption of righteousness, was the major-domo—and then there was Ike, a gingerbread colored Chesterfield, as dining-room servant.

"Miss 'Livy, you jes' let me manage dem black niggers," was Petrarch's sensible advice. "Dey doan know nuttin' 'bout a real swell dinner. I say yistiddy to Cook M'ria, 'Why doan yer have some orntrees fur dinner outen all dat chicken an' truck you has lef' over ev'y day?' an' Miss 'Livy, ef you will b'lieve me, dat nigger, she chase me outen de kitchen wid a shovel full o' live coals. She ain' got no 'spect for 'ligion. Arter I got out in de yard, I say, 'You discontemptuous, disreligious ole cantamount, doan' you know better'n to sass de Lord's 'n'inted?'" (this being Petrarch's favorite characterization of himself). "But M'ria ain' got de sperrit 'scusin' 'tis de sperrit o' owdaciousness. Ez fur dat Ike, I done tole him 'I am de Gord o' respicution,' an' he 'low I ain't no sech a thing. I gwi'n lick dat yaller nigger fo' long."

"You'd better not try it Uncle Petrarch—" (Petrarch was near to sixty, and was therefore by courtesy, Uncle Petrarch). "Ike won't stand it, and I won't have it either, I can tell you."

The Berkeleys went against the county custom, and dined in the evening. Therefore, at seven o'clock precisely, on the evening of the dinner, French Pembroke and his brother entered the quaint old drawing-room at Isleham. Olivia had