"Send the boy who brought that note to me. I wish to speak to him."
When the negro messenger entered, Westover asked:
"Do you belong to Mr. Webb?"
"No, sir. Laws a Massy, Mas' Boyd, he don't own no folks er nothin' else. He jes' hires me to fetch and carry for him sometimes."
"I thought so. How much did he pay you to bring this note to me?"
"Eighteen pence, sir."
"Well, now I want you to carry it back to him and I'll give you two and threepence for the service. I'll make it half a dollar, if you'll tell him just what I say."
In old Virginia "eighteen pence" meant a quarter of a dollar, and "two and threepence" meant thirty-seven and a half cents, the shilling then being sixteen and two-thirds cents, as the result of some ancient debasement of coin in England.
"Suttenly, sir. Ef what you wants me to say is so superfluous like as to make him mad, I reckon I kin run faster'n he kin."
"Very well then. I want you to hand him back his letter and say: