Next day was auction day. About broad day in the morning the king and the duke come up in the garret and woke me up, and I see by their look that there was trouble. The king says:
«Was you in my room night before last?»
«No, your majesty»-which was the way I always called him when nobody but our gang warn't around.
«Was you in there yisterday er last night?»
«No, your majesty.»
«Honor bright, now-no lies.»
«Honor bright, your majesty, I'm telling you the truth. I hain't been a-near your room since Miss Mary Jane took you and the duke and showed it to you.»
The duke says:
«Have you seen anybody else go in there?»
«No, your grace, not as I remember, I believe.»
«Stop and think.»
I studied awhile and see my chance; then I says:
«Well, I see the niggers go in there several times.»
Both of them gave a little jump, and looked like they hadn't ever expected it, and then like they HAD. Then the duke says:
«What, all of them?»
«No-leastways, not all at once-that is, I don't think I ever see them all come OUT at once but just one time.»
«Hello! When was that?»
«It was the day we had the funeral. In the morning. It warn't early, because I overslept. I was just starting down the ladder, and I see them.»
«Well, go on, GO on! What did they do? How'd they act?»
«They didn't do nothing. And they didn't act anyway much, as fur as I see. They tiptoed away; so I seen, easy enough, that they'd shoved in there to do up your majesty's room, or something, s'posing you was up; and found you WARN'T up, and so they was hoping to slide out of the way of trouble without waking you up, if they hadn't already waked you up.»
«Great guns, THIS is a go!» says the king; and both of them looked pretty sick and tolerable silly. They stood there a-thinking and scratching their heads a minute, and the duke he bust into a kind of a little raspy chuckle, and says:
«It does beat all how neat the niggers played their hand. They let on to be SORRY they was going out of this region! And I believed they WAS sorry, and so did you, and so did everybody. Don't ever tell ME any more that a nigger ain't got any histrionic talent. Why, the way they played that thing it would fool ANYBODY. In my opinion, there's a fortune in 'em. If I had capital and a theater, I wouldn't want a better lay-out than that-and here we've gone and sold 'em for a song. Yes, and ain't privileged to sing the song yet. Say, where IS that song-that draft?»
«In the bank for to be collected. Where WOULD it be?»
«Well, THAT'S all right then, thank goodness.»
Says I, kind of timid-like:
«Is something gone wrong?»
The king whirls on me and rips out:
«None o' your business! You keep your head shet, and mind y'r own affairs-if you got any. Long as you're in this town don't you forgit THAT-you hear?» Then he says to the duke, «We got to jest swaller it and say noth'n': mum's the word for US.»
As they was starting down the ladder the duke he chuckles again, and says:
«Quick sales AND small profits! It's a good business-yes.»
The king snarls around on him and says:
«I was trying to do for the best in sellin' 'em out so quick. If the profits has turned out to be none, lackin' considable, and none to carry, is it my fault any more'n it's yourn?»
«Well, THEY'D be in this house yet and we WOULDN'T if I could a got my advice listened to.»
The king sassed back as much as was safe for him, and then swapped around and lit into ME again. He give me down the banks for not coming and TELLING him I see the niggers come out of his room acting that way-said any fool would a KNOWED something was up. And then waltzed in and cussed HIMSELF awhile, and said it all come of him not laying late and taking his natural rest that morning, and he'd be blamed if he'd ever do it again. So they went off a-jawing; and I felt dreadful glad I'd worked it all off on to the niggers, and yet hadn't done the niggers no harm by it.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
BY and by it was getting-up time. So I come down the ladder and started for down-stairs; but as I come to the girls' room the door was open, and I see Mary Jane setting by her old hair trunk, which was open and she'd been packing things in it-getting ready to go to England. But she had stopped now with a folded gown in her lap, and had her face in her hands, crying. I felt awful bad to see it; of course anybody would. I went in there and says:
«Miss Mary Jane, you can't a-bear to see people in trouble, and I can't
—most always. Tell me about it.»
So she done it. And it was the niggers-I just expected it. She said the beautiful trip to England was most about spoiled for her; she didn't know HOW she was ever going to be happy there, knowing the mother and the children warn't ever going to see each other no more-and then busted out bitterer than ever, and flung up her hands, and says:
«Oh, dear, dear, to think they ain't EVER going to see each other any more!»
«But they WILL-and inside of two weeks-and I KNOW it!» says I.
Laws, it was out before I could think! And before I could budge she throws her arms around my neck and told me to say it AGAIN, say it AGAIN, say it AGAIN!
I see I had spoke too sudden and said too much, and was in a close place. I asked her to let me think a minute; and she set there, very impatient and excited and handsome, but looking kind of happy and eased-up, like a person that's had a tooth pulled out. So I went to studying it out. I says to myself, I reckon a body that ups and tells the truth when he is in a tight place is taking considerable many resks, though I ain't had no experience, and can't say for certain; but it looks so to me, anyway; and yet here's a case where I'm blest if it don't look to me like the truth is better and actuly SAFER than a lie. I must lay it by in my mind, and think it over some time or other, it's so kind of strange and unregular. I never see nothing like it. Well, I says to myself at last, I'm a-going to chance it; I'll up and tell the truth this time, though it does seem most like setting down on a kag of powder and touching it off just to see where you'll go to. Then I says:
«Miss Mary Jane, is there any place out of town a little ways where you could go and stay three or four days?»
«Yes; Mr. Lothrop's. Why?»
«Never mind why yet. If I'll tell you how I know the niggers will see each other again inside of two weeks-here in this house-and PROVE how I know it-will you go to Mr. Lothrop's and stay four days?»
«Four days!» she says; «I'll stay a year!»
«All right,» I says, «I don't want nothing more out of YOU than just your word-I druther have it than another man's kiss-the-Bible.» She smiled and reddened up very sweet, and I says, «If you don't mind it, I'll shut the door- and bolt it.»
Then I come back and set down again, and says:
«Don't you holler. Just set still and take it like a man. I got to tell the truth, and you want to brace up, Miss Mary, because it's a bad kind, and going to be hard to take, but there ain't no help for it. These uncles of yourn ain't no uncles at all; they're a couple of frauds
—regular dead-beats. There, now we're over the worst of it, you can stand the rest middling easy.»
It jolted her up like everything, of course; but I was over the shoal water now, so I went right along, her eyes a-blazing higher and higher all the time, and told her every blame thing, from where we first struck that young fool going up to the steamboat, clear through to where she flung herself on to the king's breast at the front door and he
