Late in the afternoon
           of a chilly day
               in February,
           two gentlemen
            were sitting alone
                   over their wine,
         in a well-furnished dining parlor,
           in the town of P
          ----,
           in Kentucky.

    There were no servants present,
           and the gentlemen,
         with chairs closely approaching,
           seemed to be
              discussing some subject
                   with great earnestness.

    For convenience sake,
           we have said,
         hitherto,
           two _gentlemen_.

    One of the parties,
           however,
         when critically examined,
           did not seem,
         strictly speaking,
           to come under the species.

    He was a short,
           thick-set man,
         with coarse,
           commonplace features,
         and that swaggering air
               of pretension
              which marks a low man
             who is
                  trying to elbow
                       his way upward
                     in the world.

    He was much over-dressed,
           in a gaudy vest of
               many colors,
         a blue neckerchief,
           bedropped gayly with yellow spots,
         and arranged
               with a flaunting tie,
           quite in keeping
               with the general air
                   of the man.

    His hands,
           large and coarse,
         were plentifully bedecked with rings;
        and he
            wore a heavy gold watch-chain,
           with a bundle
               of seals
             of portentous size,
         and a great variety
               of colors,
           attached to it,
          --which,
           in the ardor of conversation,
         he was
               in the habit
                   of flourishing and
              jingling with evident satisfaction.

    His conversation
        was in free
               and easy defiance
                   of Murray's Grammar,[1]
            and was
                  garnished at convenient intervals
                       with various profane expressions,
           which not
             even the desire
                  to be graphic
                       in our account
                shall induce us to transcribe.

    1
        English Grammar
           (1795),
           by Lindley Murray
        (1745-1826),
           the most
             authoritative
                American grammarian of his day.

    His companion,
           Mr. Shelby,
         had the appearance
               of a gentleman;
        and the
             arrrangements
                of the house,
           and the general air
               of the housekeeping,
         indicated easy,
           and even opulent circumstances.

    As we before stated,
           the two
            were in the midst
                   of an earnest conversation.

    "That is the way
         I should arrange the matter,"
              said Mr. Shelby.

    "I can't make
           trade that way
          --I positively can't,
           Mr. Shelby," said the other,
         holding up a glass
               of wine
             between his eye
                   and the light.

    "Why,
           the fact is,
         Haley,
           Tom is an uncommon fellow;
        he is certainly worth
             that sum anywhere,
          --steady,
           honest,
         capable,
           manages my whole farm
               like a clock."

    "You mean honest,
           as niggers go," said Haley,
         helping himself
               to a glass of brandy.

    "No;
        I mean,
           really,
         Tom is a good,
           steady,
         sensible,
           pious fellow.

    He got religion
           at a camp-meeting,
         four years ago;
        and I believe
             he really _did_ get it.

    I've trusted him,
           since then,
         with everything I have,
           --money,
               house,
             horses,--
           and let him
              come and go round
                   the country;
        and I always
              found him true
                   and square in everything."

    "Some folks don't believe
         there is pious niggers Shelby,"
            said Haley,
               with a candid
                  flourish of his hand,
             "but _I do_.

    I had a fellow,
           now,
         in this yer last lot
             I took to Orleans
          --'t was
               as good
             as a meetin,
           now,
         really,
           to hear that critter pray;
        and he
            was quite gentle
                   and quiet like.

    He fetched