"My deah suh, you are altogethah too kind."
"Not a bit of it; when will I tell him to call upon you?"
"Would seven o'clock be too eahly? Plantation and ahmy life have made me a light sleepah, so that I am up befoh the genehality of hotel guests."
"The very time. Excuse me for running away, I want to bag my man."
So Coristine left the colonel to parade the piazza with Wilkinson, and resought the barber shop.
The shop was closed, but a light still burned within. Coristine knocked, and Tobias opened the door. "You're the very man I want," cried the lawyer.
"Anything done gwine wrong, boss?" asked Mr. Maguffin.
The lawyer explained the circumstances to him at length, eulogized Colonel Morton, and told the negro to make his best appearance at the hotel, sharp at seven next morning.
"Do yoh say the gemman'll gib me thirty dollars a munf and cloves ter boot, and me ridin' behine him all ober the roads on hawseback!" asked Tobias.
"Yes, I think I can promise those terms," replied the legal go-between.