"Ah reckon Ah'm his first wife," the woman replied, "he was jes' twenty-one when Ah married him."
"And you've been married six years," the boy went on, entering Stephen Lawson's age as 27, the number of years married as "6," and "M. 1," to show that he was married, and married only once. "But you look like a girl still," he added, "you must have been married very young."
"Ah was jes' sixteen," she answered; "we was married on mah birthday."
"And your name is—?"
"Lily, sah."
"Any other name?"
"Mariamne, sah."
For a moment or two Hamilton wrote busily, filling in "Lily M.," "Wife," "F" for female, "Mu" for mulatto, "22" for present age, "M. 1" for first marriage, and "6" for the number of years in wedlock.
"You have children?"
"One li'l boy, sah, but he's deaf an' dumb. An' so quick an' clever, sah, in other ways, yo' wouldn' believe!"