Aunt Minervy Ann paused here to laugh. “Mad ez I wuz, suh, de minnit Hamp said dat I know’d I had ter change my chune. I ’low, ‘I know right pine-blank who tol’ you dat. ’Twan’t nobody in de roun’ worl’ but ol’ Cely Ensign, an’ she ain’t tell you dat in comp’ny, needer. She tol’ you whar nobody can’t hear ’er but you. Don’t you fret! des ez soon ez I git thoo wid supper, I’m gwine ’roun’ dar an’ drag ’er out an’ gi’ ’er de wuss frailin’ any nigger ever got sence de overseers quit bizness. I ain’t fergot dat ar’ possum you toted off ter her house.’
“Well, suh, I had ’im! He caved in. He ’low, ‘’Twan’t no ’possum; ’twan’t nothin’ in de roun’ worl’ but a late watermillion.’ I holler, ‘Ah-yi! watermillion! Well, den, ef you want ter drag anybody off fum der white folks, go an’ drag ol’ Cely Ensign—bekaze you can’t drag me.’
“We jowered right smart, but I had Hamp in a cornder. He went off an’ stayed maybe a mont’, an’ den he come back, an’ atter ’while he got ’lected ter de legislature. He done mighty well, suh. He got nine dollars a day, an’ ev’y Sat’dy night he’d fetch de bigges’ part uv it home. ’Twuz mighty handy, too, suh, kaze ef hadn’t been fer dat legislatur’ money I dunner what me and Miss Vallie an’ Marse Tumlin would ’a’ done.
“Dat wuz ’bout de time, suh, dat de town boys wanter ku-kluck Hamp, an’ you an’ Marse Tumlin went out an’ ku-klucked dem. Hamp ain’t never forgot it, suh. He’d walk fum here to Atlanty fer you ef ’twould do you any good. He don’t say much, but I know how he feel. I hear ’im calling me now, suh.”
“You haven’t told me about Paul Conant,” I suggested.
“I’ll tell you, suh, ’fo’ you go.”
In half a minute I heard Aunt Minervy Ann quarrelling and laughing at Hamp in the same breath.
IV
HOW SHE JOINED THE GEORGIA LEGISLATURE
The second day of the fair, I saw more of Paul Conant. He insisted on taking charge of me, and, in his buggy, we visited every part of the fair-grounds, which had been laid out on a most liberal scale. When dinner-time came I was glad enough to excuse myself and hurry back to the refreshing shade of Major Perdue’s veranda. There I found Aunt Minervy Ann swinging the baby in a hammock.