"PO' SICK CHILE! YO' WHITE FACE 'MINDS ME OF MY OWN MANDY CAR'LINE JUST 'FO' SHE DIED!"
"In semi-conscious stupor and with faint sense of the meaning of this talk, I dozed on.
"'Dey would fo'sake yo', honey, and leave po' old Sarah Angeline, 'less I leaves yo' heah to die all 'lone by yo'self in the dark.'
"I looked up into the black face bending over my cot.
"'Good Lawd, chile, doan' yo' look that way at po' old Sarah Angeline! Bress yo' heart, chile, I'se nevah gwine to fo'sake dis yere white baby in her powerful trials and deep 'flictions—'deed I won' now, honey!'
"Then, fully conscious, I again asked where we were and how it all happened. My recollections of that terrible night on the Thames seemed shrouded with a bewildering haze.
"The old black woman hesitated, shaking her head. Old Sarah for a while was silent, and then yielded:
"'Yo' po' sick chile, yo' knows Sarah Angeline can't 'fuse yo' nuffin' when yo' mo' and mo' 'zembles my Mandy Car'line ebery bressed minit, lookin' so pleadin' in her ole black mudder's eyes just 'fo' she died!'
"After many solemn warnings, 'nevah to say nuffin' to nobody, nevah, nevah!' the old negress told all she knew about how I came to be at this den in a London suburb.