he came to the door with her eyes jest wiped from
a-cryin'. Says I, 'Roxy, little dear, what ails you?' 'Oh, nothin','
says she, 'I can't tell you if thair is.' 'Here's your wild flowers for
Miss Vesty,' says I, 'beautiful to see!' 'Oh,' says Roxy, 'Miss Vesty
won't need 'em now.' Says I: 'Roxy, air you goin' to have all that
trouble on your mind an' not let me carry some of it?' 'Oh, my friend,'
she says, 'I must tell you, fur you have been so kind to me: don't
whisper it! But my master is in debt to Meshach Milburn, an' _he's_
married Miss Vesty, an' we think we're all gwyn to be sold or made to
live with that man that wears the bad man's hat.' Says I: 'Roxy,
darling, maybe I kin buy you.' 'Oh, I wish you was my master,' Roxy
said. An' jest at that minute, love bein' oncommon strong over me this
mornin', I took the first kiss from Roxy's mouth, an' she didn't say
nothin' agin it."

Here Jack Wonnell kissed the atmosphere several times with deep unction,
and ended by a low whoop and whistle, and looked at Levin Dennis with
one eye shut, as if to get Levin's opinion of all this.

"Well," Levin said, "I never ain't been in love yet. I 'spect I ought to
be. But mother is all I kin take keer of, and, pore soul! she's in so
much trouble over me that she can't love nobody else. I git drunk, an'
go off sailin' so long, an' spend my money so keerless, that if the Lord
didn't look out for her maybe she'd starve."

"Yes, Levin, you likes brandy as much as I likes the gals. You go off
for tarrapin, an' taters, an' oysters, an' peddles 'em aroun' Prencess
Anne, an' then somebody pulls you in the grog-shops an' away goes your
money, an' your mother ain't got no tea and coffee."

"Jack," said Levin, abruptly, "do you believe in ghosts?"

"I don't know, Levin. If I saw one maybe I would, but I'm too trashy for
ghosts to see me."

"Well, now," Levin said, "there's a ghost, or something, that looks out
for mother when I'm drunk or gone, an' it leaves tea and coffee in the
window for her."

"Sho'! why, Levin, that's Jimmy Phoebus! He's ben in love with your
mother for years an' she won't have him, but he keep's a hangin' on.
He's your mother's ghost."

"No, Jack. I thought it was till Jimmy come to me an' asked me who I
guessed it was. He was a little jealous, I reckon. I said: 'It's you,
of course, Jimmy!' 'No,' says he, 'by smoke! I don't do any hokey-pokey
like that. What I give, I go and give with no sneakin' about it or
p