“Dere wan’t no letters for you that mawnin, sah.”
“Ridley!” exclaimed Ray, with real severity this time. “There was a letter for me in that mail. Now, what became of it?”
Ridley was growing more and more frightened, but no sign of guilt appeared on his ebony countenance.
“I’s tellin’ no lies, Mistah Wendell. I swar to golly I’s tellin’ no lies. Der wan’t no letter for you.”
“Are you sure you remember the mail?” asked Ray.
“Yes, sah, perfeckly.”
“Who had letters that morning?”
“Dere was only five or six letters. I didn’t look at ’em at de post offiss, but when I kem up to de door right here, Mistah—le’s see, who was it?—Mistah, Mistah, oh, Mistah Howard was standin’ by de doorway.”
“Howard was there, was he?”
“Yes, sah, an’ he sez, ‘Ridley, hev ye got de mail?’ an’ I sez, ‘Yes, sah,’ an’ he sez, ‘Let me look at it,’ an’ I gived de letters ter him——”