Gratia's Trials — page 143: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

134 GRATIA’S TRIALS. ‘<Tust wait and see,” retorted Marianne, viciously whisking her duster into an obscure corner. ‘‘If she didn’t, who did ?” Vaguely wondering what the servants were talking about, Gratia went back to her room. In the meanwhile the coroner’s jury were duly assembled in the library, where the corpse lay lightly covered with a white sheet. The usual forms and ceremonies were gone through with, and Scipios evidence was then taken. The faithful negro, with tears streaming down his face, told how he had found: his master’s corpse on first entering the room that morning. ‘And you have no idea how it could have happened?” asked one of the jury. ‘No, sah, dat I hasn’t.” | ‘‘Fle was on good terms with all the servants ?” ‘<’Deed was he !” Scipio answered, indignantly. ‘‘ Dar wasn’t one on ‘em but would hab gone on dere knees to sarb him, he was dat considerate, was Massa Miller.” ‘‘And the family—had there been any violent misunder- standing? You understand—there will be family quarrels, no matter how harmoniously people live?” “Ves, sah, I comprehends !” Scipio answered, with dignity. ‘‘No, sah, der was no quarrel. We doesn’t quarrel, sah. Ex- cept, maybe,” and Scipio rubbed his gray wool perplexedly, ‘fonce in a while Mass Bob. Mass Bob, sah, was always wantin’ money—young gentlemen does, you know, sah—an’ Mr. Miller, he hadn’t no patience wid dat.” “Did it ever amount to a serious difficulty ?” questioned the juryman. ~ ‘« Bless your heart, sah, you’d tink dey’d tar each other to pieces—but it neber lasted long. Didn’t ’mount.to nothing, sah.” si ‘« How was it last evening?” comiebooks:com