Page:Wilson - The Boss of Little Arcady (1905).djvu/95

 to huh—an' Ah bet them theah lawyehs at Wash'nt'n, seh, couldn't kentrive none a' they laws that would 'a' teched me, seh. No,—seh they cain't lay th' law to Miss Cahline's pussenalities. She ain't go'n' a' stan' no nonsense lahk that, seh; she ain't go'n' a' have no lawyeh mixin' up in huh private mattehs. Ah lahk t' see one try it—yes, seh."

He gazed vacantly into the distance, then laughed aloud as he beheld the discomfiture of the "lawyeh" in this suppositious proceeding.

"And you even let your wife go?—that must have been hard."

"Well, seh, not to say mah wife. Mah raght wife, she daid—an' then Ah mahied this yeh light-shaded gehl fum th' quahtahs, an' she's wild an' misled—yes, seh."

Again he was troubled, but I held him to it.

"You thought a good deal of her, didn't you, Clem?"

He studied a moment as he rearranged the roses in the bowl on the table, seeking a way to let me understand. Then he sighed hopelessly.

"Well, Mahstah Majah, Genevieve she cyahed a raght smaht fo' me, also, an' she mek it up fo' me t' come along t' town with huh. She sais Ah git a mewl an a fahm an' thousan' dollehs money fum yo' Nawthen President an' we all live lahk th' quality. But, yo'-all see, th' ole Mahstah Cunnel say when he go off to th' wah, 'Clem, yo' black houn', ef Ah doan' eveh come back, these yeh ladies is lef' in yo' pussenal