"Rot! Well, go on; I do respect it. I beg your pardon. But why do you come here to hit me with the moral sandbag of a priest? Don't you know that any calling can be made offensive?"
"The gospel is always offensive to the sinner."
"Look here, you black impostor, I'll not put up with your insolence. Get out."
He stepped backward to the door, took up his hat, put it under his arm, and bowed to me.
"Wait a moment, Washington. Confound it, you always make me strut and talk like an actor. Let's get down off our high horses and turn them loose to graze. What did you come to say?"
"I came to beg you not to be worried because you were not able to keep your word with me."
"That's kind, but how do you know I was not able to keep it?"
"Old Miss Patsey told me that the Senator brought you home with him."
"And you know that she was not at home."
"Yes, I knew that she was over at the State capital, with her husband."