"When you comin' back?"
"Never."
"What! Well, damned if I ain' gwine wid you, then."
The tone was so sincere and he was evidently so much in earnest that a lump sprang into my throat. I turned away to keep him from seeing that I was moved, and it was to keep him still from finding it out, that I turned on him with well feigned savageness as he entered the room.
"You look like going with me, don't you! You drunken scoundrel! Take your hat off, sir"—for in his confusion he had wholly forgotten his manners. They now came back to him.
"Ixcuse me—Cap'n" (with a low bow). "Ixcuse me, suh. I al'ays removes my hat in the presence of the ladies and sech distinguished gent'mens as yourself, suh; but, Cap'n——"
"Drunken rascal!" I muttered, still to hide my feeling.
"Cap'n—I ain' drunk—I'll swear I ain' had a drink not in—" He paused for an appropriate term and gave it up. "—Not in—I'll swear on a stack of Bibles as—as high as Gen'l Washin's monument—you bring it heah—is you got a Bible? You smell my breath!"
"Smell your breath! I can't smell anything but your breath. Open that window!"
"Yes, suh," and the window was meanderingly approached, but not reached, for he staggered slightly and caught on a chair.