“And how is Miss Murray?”
“Never better, or handsomer. And by the way, I wish to make some inquiries respecting the colored woman Esha, who, I believe, lived some time in your family.”
“Yes, Esha lived with me fifteen years. A capital cook, and good washer and ironer. I wouldn’t have parted with her if Mr. Ratcliff hadn’t been so set on borrowing her. She was here some days ago about that deposition business.”
“O yes,” said Semmes, thoroughly startled, yet concealing every sign of surprise, and remarking: “By the way, how did you get through with that business?”
“O, very well. Mr. Jasper and the other gentlemen were very polite and considerate.”
Jasper! He was the counsel in the great case of Winslow versus Burrows. Probably he was now Winslow’s confidential agent and adviser. Semmes’s thin, wiry hands closed together, as if grasping a clew that would lead him to hidden treasures.
“I hope,” said he, carefully trying his ground, “you weren’t incommoded by the application.”
“Not at all. I only had to refer to my account-books, which gave me all the necessary dates. And as for the child’s clothes, they were in an old trunk in the garret, where they hadn’t been touched for fifteen years. I had forgotten all about them till Mr. Jasper asked me whether I had any such articles.”
Semmes was still in the dark.
“And was Esha’s testimony taken?”