"Isn't she in the house ?" "No, sah, done gwine vis'tin, I 'spec." "When will she return ?" "Dunno," said Isham.

"She nebber comes to me an' tells me whar she gwine, an' when she comin' back." And then, after satisfying himself that nothing more was needed of him for the present, Isham left the room; and when he reached the kitchen, he addressed himself to its plump mistress: "Letty," said he, "when dat ar Mister Crof has got froo wid his dinner, you go an' fotch back de plates an' dishes.

He axes too many questions to suit me, dis day." "You is poh'ly to-day, Uncle Isham," said Letty.
"Yaas," said the old man, "I's right much on the careen." Uncle Isham, perhaps, was not more loyal to the widow Keswick than many old servants were and are to their former mistresses, but his loyalty was peculiar in that it related principally to his regard for her character.

This regard he wished to be very high, and it always troubled and unsettled his mind, when the old lady herself or anybody else interfered with his efforts to keep it high.

For years he had been hoping that the time would come when she would cease to "rar and chawge," but she had continued, at intervals, to indulge in that most unsuitable exercise; and now that it appeared that she had reared and charged again, her old servant was much depressed.