The boy smiled and looked at the shining yellow canvas that seemed a living thing gleaming in its dark setting:
"I suppose, of course, Andy, you really saw her do that?"
"'Fore God, es sho's I'm talkin' ter you now, she done dat thing—yassah! Hit wus de las' year befo' you come back frum college. De moon wuz shinin' froo dem big windows right on her face, an' I seed her wid my own eyes, all of a sudden, step right down outen dat picture frame an' walk across dis room, huggin' her baby close up in her arms—an' you'se dat very baby, sah!"
The boy was interested in the negro's weird recital in spite of his amusement. He shook his head and said laughingly:
"Andy, you've got the heat——"
"Hit's des lak I tells ye, sah," Andy solemnly repeated. "I stood right dar by dat table froze in my tracks, till I seed her go froo dat do' widout openin' it——"
"Bah!" Tom cried in disgust.
"Dat she did!—an' Miss Minerva she see her do dat same thing once before and tell me about it. But man erlive, when I see it, I let off one er dem yells dat wuz hark from de tomb——"
"I bet you did!"
"Yassah, I went froo dat big window dar an' carry de whole sash wid me. De major he take out atter me when he hears de commotion, an' when he kotch me down dar in de fiel' I wuz still wearin' dat sash fer a necktie!"