"You can't work me that way."
She put forth a shaky hand to stroke his dark hair, and he warded her off. "Nor that way either!" he said, beginning to grow angry.
"Say, sonny, do you ever see the spirits here?" she began again.
"No, but I can smell 'em now," he replied.
She burst out into a cackle of laughter. "Say, that's pretty good! You're a likely little feller, you be. I didn't mean no harm, noways."
"You mean that you didn't mean any harm, don't you?" he asked soberly.
"No, I don't mean no harm, sure I don't! What d'you mean?"
"She says one shouldn't use double negatives."
"What's them, then?"
"I mean you don't use good English," said the boy.