Then he
stretched out his big black hand and passed it over the body, smoothing
it gently and patting it tenderly as one would a sleeping child. By and
by he leaned closer to my father's face.
"'Marse Henry,' I heard him say, 'please, Marse Henry, listen. Dis
yere's Aleck. Ye'r wouldn't hear me the las' time but yer got ter hear
me now. It's yo' Aleck, Marster, dat's who it is. I come soon's I could,
Marse Henry, I didn't wait a minute.' He stopped as if expecting an
answer, and went on. 'I ain't neber laid up nothin' agin ye though,
Marse Henry. When ye turned me out dat night in the col' 'cause I had
dem soger clo'es on an' didn't want me to gin dat money to Sammy, I
knowed how yer felt, but I didn't lay it up agin ye. I ain't neber loved
nobody like I loved you, Marse Henry, you an' Sammy. Do yer 'member when
I fust come? 'Member how ye tuk me out o' jail, an' gin me a home?
'Member how ye nussed me when I was sick, an' fed me when I was hongry,
an' put clo'es on me when I was most naked? Nobody neber trusted me with
nothin' till you trusted me, dey jus' beat me an' hunt me.
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