The one clad elegantly and fashionably, his shirt-front blazing with
diamond studs, his hair and beard luxuriant and carefully kept. The
pleasant eyes untroubled and smiling. The other in the plain garb of
one who must earn his bread, coarse but scrupulously neat. The face
bronzed from exposure, the hair damp with the sweat of toil, and yet,
when the brown, hardened hand of the Virginia gentleman met the white
clasp of the rich man of the North, Mr. Grey lost nothing by
comparison. Colonel ---- having laughingly inquired after Maum Winnie,
the whole party repaired to her cabin. The old woman received her
guests with stately politeness, holding her turbaned head high, as she
_majestically_ stalked before them to show, at their request, her
chickens, ducks, and pigs. She omitted nothing that was due to her
visitors, but there was a strained politeness, and a rolling of her
eyes toward them, which made Mrs. Grey uneasy and quite prepared her
for what followed. While Colonel ---- was in the act of saying
something which he thought would quite win the old creature's heart,
she looked up at him over her glasses, saying,--
"Yer ain't seen nuffin er dat ar fedder-bed yet, is yer? Kase ole Miss
she dun giv' me dat ar bed too long to talk about, an' ebery one ob
dem fedders was ris rite on dis yere place.
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