"There won't be anything of that. God won't let the nigger angels out-fly the white ones."
There came a tap at the door—a house-maid come to tell us that if we did not stop talking Old Miss would come in and whip us. We whispered and giggled a long time, and then Bob fell asleep, and I lay there thinking of the white roses that had scented the parlor. It must have been very late for the lights were out everywhere, when I heard voices on the walk just below my window. I looked out cautiously and in the moonlight I saw Old Master and Dr. George Bates. Master was walking up and down, but the doctor stood still.
"I want you to understand this," said the old man. "You are at perfect liberty to stay here as long as you choose—and I will feed you and clothe you, but you must have nothing whatever to say about the running of my affairs. You are constantly meddling with things that don't concern you."
"General, it is not my intention to interfere, I assure you."
"But you do," said Old Master, making an emphatic motion. "You seem to think that I ought to divide my property with you. Get that out of your head as soon as you can."
"It has never been in my head, General. I merely suggested that if you would give me Dan I would take him and go South."
"Give you Dan! Confound it, haven't I told you that he belongs to Bob?"
"Yes, but I didn't know but you gave him away just as a man sometimes gives a colt to a boy—merely to claim."
"I don't give things that way, sir."
"I know, but your wife—"