I was listening intently to
their altercation, when suddenly one of them, eyeing me with malicious
gaze, no doubt having noticed my attention to the colloquy, said,
"Your opinion, stranger, on this subject; I guess you understand it
torrably well, as you seem to be pretty hard on B - - 's eldest
daughter." This unexpected sally rather alarmed me, for the name he
mentioned was that of my coloured friend I have before alluded to, and
whose daughter I had only met once, and that at her father's house.
I scarcely knew what to reply, but thought it best to put on a bold
face, so facing the man, I thanked him with much irony for the inuendo,
and said, it was a piece of impudence I thought very much like him from
what I had overheard.
This was said in a resolute tone, and the fellow quailed before it, his
reply being, "Now stranger, don't get angry, I saw you the other day at
B - - 's house, and could not tell what to make of it, but I hope you
don't think that I was in arnest."
I replied to this, that I knew best what business I had at B - - 's
house, and that his plan was to mind his own business.
