DELIBERATION OF MR. DUNKIN
"Oh, I reckon you an' Mistah Taf' 'll soon be man an' wife, an' hit ain't no hahm fu' de wife to know what de husban' know."
"I do' know huccome you say dat; Mistah Taf' don' have nothin' to say to me; he cou'tin' Miss Callena Johnson."
"Don' have nothin' to say to you! Cou'tin' Miss Callena!"
"Dat 's de reason I wants to know huccome you back out."
"Back out! Who back out? Me back out? I ain't nevah backed out: Mistah Taf' foolin' you."
"'Tain' me he's a-foolin'. He may be foolin' some folks, but hit ain't Marfy Jane Madison. La, Mistah Dunkin, I knows colo'ed folks, I kin shet my eyes an' put my han's on 'em in de da'k. Co'se hit ain't none o' my business, but I know he ain't puttin' on his bes' clothes, an' gwine to see dat teachah th'ee times a week, 'less 'n he got notions in his haid. 'T ain't in human natur, leastways not colo'ed human natur as I knows it. 'T ain't me he's a-foolin'."
"Do he put on his best clothes an' go th'ee times a week?"
255
