But she knew
a heap more than I did; and ez to readin' and writin', she was thar,
I tell you, every time. You'd hev admired to see her, Mr. Ford." As
he paused here as if he had exhausted the subject, the master said
impatiently, "Well, where is she now?"
Uncle Ben shook his head slowly. "I ain't seen her sens I left Mizzouri,
goin' on five years ago."
"But why haven't you? What was the matter?" persisted the master.
"Well--you see--I runned away. Not SHE, you know, but I--I scooted,
skedaddled out here."
"But what for?" asked the master, regarding Uncle Ben with hopeless
wonder. "Something must have happened. What was it? Was she"--
"She WAS a good schollard," said Uncle Ben gravely, "and allowed to be
sech, by all. She stood about so high," he continued, indicating with
his hand a medium height. "War little and dark complected."
"But you must have had some reason for leaving her?"
"I've sometimes had an idea," said Uncle Ben cautiously, "that mebbee
runnin' away ran in some fam'lies. Now, there war my mother run off with
an entire stranger, and yer's me ez run off by myself.
Pages:
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164