I had spoken satirically, and expected to see her shrink under it, but she answered with perfect coolness and _sang froid_.

I continued, 'You will not deny that you are a negro, at least a mulatto.' "'Pardon me, madam,' she replied; 'my father is a mulatto, my mother was an Englishwoman.

Thus, to give you accurate information upon the subject, I am a quadroon.' "'Quadroon be it!' I answered, angrily again, I fear.

'Quadroon, mulatto, or negro, it is all one.

I have no desire to split hairs of definition.