A Romance of Billy-Goat Hill

								

go until she gets ready. You needn't be afraid of her biting you. She
couldn't be induced to bite a colored person.”
Uncle Jimpson, carrying the dog along on his foot, led the way, while
Mrs. Sequin, with the cautious tread of a stout person used to the
treacheries of oriental rugs on hardwood floors, followed. She was a
woman of full figure and imposing presence, whose elaborate coiffure
and attention to detail in dress, gave evidence that the world had its
claims.
At sight of the shabby, old, mud-covered buggy, and the decrepit
apostolic John she paused.
Jimpson all obsequious politeness, put a linen duster over the wheel,
and with a gesture worthy of Chesterfield, handed her in.
“I wish the top up,” she commanded. “The glare is unspeakable.”
Uncle Jimpson, standing by the wheel, shuffled his feet in
embarrassment: “Yas'm,” he agreed, “I'll put it up effen you want me to.
But it won't stay up. No, mam, it won't stay. Looks lak in de las' two
or three years it got a way o' fallin' back. Cunnel 'lowed he was gwine
to git it fixed onct or twict, but he ain't done it.”
Fanchonette just here became enraged at a bit of paper that was caught
in the wheel, and gave vent to such a violent burst of temper that it
required the undivided attention of her mistress to calm her.
Uncle Jimpson, occupying the smallest possible portion of the seat, and
with one leg hanging outside the buggy, rejoiced in the proximity of so
much elegance. It gave him a feeling of prosperity and importance, and
made him straighten his back, crook his elbow, and even adopt a more
formal manner with old John. He deeply regretted that he had not put on
a clean coat and as for the buggy, he was already planning a thorough
cleaning of it before driving the stylish guest back in the afternoon.
“Stop a moment!” commanded Mrs. Sequin peremptorily. “What a view! I had
no idea there was such scenery anywhere around here!”
“Yas'm, hits about de fines' sceneries in de world! You kin see from
dem heights clean down to de bridge. All dis hill used to be our-alls. I
'member hearin' how Mr. Rogers Clark done gib it to de Cunnel's gran'paw
fer a lan' grant when de Injuns libed here!”
“Who owns it now? Who owns the hilltop?”
“I don't know, mam. We been sellin' off considerable.”
“Well, I must find out about that at once. I'll send an agent out
to-morrow to look into the matter. Colonel Carsey left only one
daughter, I believe, and she never married?”
Uncle Jimpson jerked the reins and looked a bit nettled.
“Not yit,” he said, “but she ain't no old maid, Miss Lady ain't. Dere
neber wuz a Carsey lady yit dat withered on de stalk; de trouble wif
dem is dey git picked too soon. Ez fer Miss Lady's ma, she wasn't but
jes turned sebenteen when me an' de Cunnel went down to Alabama to marry
her.”
“Who are Miss Carsey's relatives, her advisers?”
“She ain't got none. She didn't hab a livin', breathin' soul but her