Andy looked at him in astonishment and asked incredulously:
"Who de debbil say you'se er scared of any nigger? Show dat man ter me—who say dat?"
"I say it!" was the bitter answer. He had been thinking aloud, but now that the negro had heard he didn't care. His soul was sick of subterfuge and lies.
Andy laughed apologetically:
"Yassah! Cose, sah, ef you say dat hit's so, why I say hit's so—but all de same, 'twixt you an' me, I knows tain't so!"
"But from to-night!" Norton cried, ignoring Andy as he sprang to his feet and looked sharply about the room:
"Tell Cleo I wish to see her at once!"
"She gone out in de Squar ter hear de news, sah."
"The moment she comes let me know!" he said with sharp emphasis and turned quickly to the door.
"Yassah," Andy answered watching him go with amazement. "De Lawdy, major, you ain't gwine off an' leave dese mint juleps lak dat, is ye?"