The general shook until his face was purple and the ice jingled in the glass.
"Bosom friend, you puss!" he roared. "Why can't you choose a bosom friend of your own colour? What do you want with a bosom friend as black as the ace of spades?"
"O papa, she ain't black; she's jes' yellow-brown."
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Eugie," said Miss Chris severely. "Now go upstairs and wash your face and hands before dinner. It is almost ready. I wonder where Bernard is!"
"Can't I wait twell the bell rings?" Eugenia asked; but Miss Chris shook her head decisively.
"Eugenia, will you never stop talking like a darkey?" she demanded. "How often must I tell you that there's no such word as 'twell'? Now, go right straight upstairs."
Eugenia rose obediently and went into the hall. She had learned from her father and the servants not to dispute the authority of Miss Chris, though she yielded to it with a mild surprise at her own docility.
"She don't really manage me," she had once confided to Delphy, the washerwoman, "but I jes' plays that she does."