There was nothing to do but obey. He bowed and turned away:

"Ya.s.sah."

Norton watched him with a dazed look and cried suddenly:

"Where are you going?"

"Back!"

"Stop!"

Andy stopped with a sudden jerk:

"Ya.s.sah!"

"Put that tray down on the table!"

The negro obeyed but watched his master out of the corners of his eye:

"Ya.s.sah!"

Again Norton forgot Andy's existence, his eyes fixed in s.p.a.ce, his mind in a whirl of speculation in which he felt his soul and body sinking deeper.

The negro was watching him with increasing suspicion and fear as he turned his head in the direction of the table.

"What are you standing there for?" he asked sharply.

"You say stop, sah."

"Well, get away--get out!" Norton cried with sudden anger.

Andy backed rapidly:

"Ya.s.sah!"

As he reached the doorway Norton's command rang so sharply that the negro spun around on one foot:

"Wait!"

"Y--yas--sah!"

The master took a step toward the trembling figure with an imperious gesture:

"Come here!"

Andy approached gingerly, glancing from side to side for the best way of retreat in case of emergency:

"What's the matter with you?" Norton demanded.

Andy laughed feebly:

"I--I--I dunno, sah; I wuz des wonderin' what's de matter wid you, sah!"

"Tell me!"

The negro's teeth were chattering as he glanced up:

"Ya.s.sah! I tell all I know, sah!"

Norton fixed him with a stern look:

"Has Tom been back here during the past four weeks?"

"Nasah!" was the surprised answer, "he bin wid you, sah!"

The voice softened to persuasive tones:

"He hasn't slipped back here even for an hour since I've been gone?"

"I nebber seed him!"

"I didn't ask you," Norton said threateningly, "whether you'd 'seed'

him"--he paused and dropped each word with deliberate emphasis--"I asked you if you knew whether he'd been here?"

Andy mopped his brow and glanced at his inquisitor with terror:

"Nasah, I don't know nuttin', sah!"

"Haven't you lied to me?"

"Ya.s.sah! ya.s.sah," the negro replied in friendly conciliation. "I has per-var-i-cated sometimes--but I sho is tellin' you de truf dis time, sah!"

The master glared at him a moment and suddenly sprang at his throat, both hands clasping his neck with a strangling grip. Andy dropped spluttering to his knees.

"You're lying to me!" Norton growled. "Out with the truth now"--his grip tightened--"out with it, or I'll choke it out of you!"

Andy grasped the tightening fingers and drew them down:

"Fer Gawd's sake, major, doan' do dat!"

"Has Tom been back here during the past weeks to see Miss Helen?"

Andy struggled with the desperate fingers:

"Doan' do dat, major--doan' do dat! I ain't holdin' nuttin' back--I let it all out, sah!"

The grip slackened:

"Then out with the whole truth!"