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“‘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. An’ don’t yer ‘member, Marse Henry, de time ye gin me Sammy an’ tol’ me to take care on him? you ain’t forgot dat day, is yer? He’s here, Marster; Sammy’s here. He’s settin’ outside a-watch-in’. Him an’ me togedder, same’s we useter was.’

“He got upon his feet, and looked earnestly into the dead face. Then he bent down and picked up one corner of the white sheet, and kissed it reverently. He did not touch the face. When he had tiptoed out of the room, he laid his hand on my shoulder. The tears were streaming down his face: ‘It was jes’ like ye, Sammy, to send fo’ me. We knows one anudder, you an’ me–‘ and he turned toward the front door.

“‘Where are you going, Aleck?’ I asked.

“‘I dunno, Sammy–some place whar I kin lay down.’

“‘You don’t leave here to-night, Aleck,’ I said. ‘Go upstairs to that room next to mine–you know where it is–and get into that bed.’ He held up his hand and began to say he couldn’t, but I insisted.

“The next morning was Sunday. I saw when he came downstairs that he had done the best he could with his clothes, but they were still pretty ragged. I asked him if he had brought any others, but he told me they were all he had. I didn’t say anything at the time, but that afternoon I took him to a clothing store, had it opened as a favor to me and fitted him out with a suit of black, and a shirt, and shoes and a hat–everything he wanted–and got him a carpet-bag, and told Abraham, the clothier, to put Aleck’s old things into it, and he would call for them the next day.

“When we got outside, Aleck looked himself all over–along his sleeves, over his waistcoat, and down to his shoes. He seemed to be thinking about something. He would start to speak to me and stop and look over his clothes again, testing the quality with his fingers. Finally he laid his hand on my arm, and, with a curious, beseeching look, in his eyes, said:

“‘Sammy, all yesterday, when I was a-comin’, I was a-studyin’ about it, an’ I couldn’t git it out’n my mind. It come to me agin when I saw Marse Henry las’ night, an’ I wanted to tell him. But when I got up dis mawnin’ an’ see myself I knowed I couldn’t ask ye, Sammy, an’ I didn’t. Now I got dese clo’es, it’s come to me agin. I kin ask ye now, an’ I don’t want ye to ‘fuse me. I want ye to let me drive my marster’s body to de grave.’

“I held out my hand, and for an instant neither of us spoke.

“‘Thank ye, Sammy,’ was all he said.”

Again my companion’s voice broke. Then he went on: