human
Why, honey, I've told you all I know an' a whole lot more, protested Mr. Sanders.
gpt
Ef ever'body was name Nan, I'd be the most populous man in the whole county.
human
Well, tell me this, Nan insisted;
gpt
Lemme see, said Mr. Sanders, pretending to reflect;
human
I think that is disgusting, Nan declared.
gpt
Do you mean to tell me he never asked about his grandmother?
human
Fiddlesticks, Nan! he looked at me like he was hungry, an' I told him all about his grandmother, an' he kep' on a-lookin' hungry, an' I told him all about her neighbours. What he said I couldn't tell you no more than the man in the moon. He done jest like any other healthy boy would 'a' done, an' that's all I know about it.
gpt
That's what I thought, said Nan wearily;
human
Well, Gabriel didn't look much like a boy when I seed him last. He hadn't shaved in a month of Sundays, and his beard was purty nigh as long as my little finger. He couldn't go to a barber-shop in Malvern for fear some of the niggers might know him an' report him to the commander of the post there. I begged him not to shave the beard off. He looks mighty well wi' it.
gpt
His beard! cried Nan.
human
If he comes home with a beard I'll never speak to him again. Gabriel with a beard! It is too ridiculous!
gpt
Don't worry, Mr. Sanders remarked soothingly.
human
Ef I git word of his comin' I'll git me a pa'r of shears, an' meet him outside the corporation line, an' lop his whiskers off for him; but I tell you now, it won't make him look a bit purtier--not a bit.
gpt
You needn't trouble yourself, said Nan, with considerable dignity.
human
I have no interest in the matter at all.
gpt
Well, I thought maybe you'd be glad to git Gabriel's beard an' make it in a sofy pillow.
human
Why, whoever heard of such a thing?
gpt
I knowed a man once, replied Mr. Sanders, by way of making a practical application of his suggestion,