"
"You don't say so! Wonders will never cease--and he such a gentleman, too!"
resumed her husband.
"Yes; and it's completely sickening," continued Mrs. Stevens, "to see them
together; he calls her my dear, and is as tender and affectionate to her as
if she was a Circassian--and she nothing but a nigger--faugh! it's
disgusting."
Little Clarence had been standing near, unnoticed by either of them during
this conversation, and they were therefore greatly surprised when he
exclaimed, with a burst of tears, "My mother is not a nigger any more than
you are! How dare you call her such a bad name? I'll tell my father!"
Mr. Stevens gave a low whistle, and looking at his wife, pointed to the
door. Mrs. Stevens laid her hand on the shoulder of Clarence, and led him
to the door, saying, as she did so, "Don't come in here any more--I don't
wish you to come into my house;" and then closing it, returned to her
husband.
"You know, George," said she, "that I went in to pay her a short visit. I
hadn't the remotest idea that she was a coloured woman, and I commenced
giving my opinion respecting niggers very freely, when suddenly her husband
called for a light, and I then saw to whom I had been talking. You may
imagine my astonishment--I was completely dumb--and it would have done you
good to have seen the air with which she left the room, after as good as
telling me to leave the house.
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