112
MORNING AFTER A BALL.
morning by different gentlemen, when they visit their stables. " Why, Thomas, what's the matter with this horse ? how jaded he looks," says the gent, addressing his groom ; " I hope it's not ill!" “ Me no no, massa; me quite sick meself, dat de trute," replies one of the beaux of the preceding night. “ And this one," continues his master, “ his legs are quite swollen, and he's all over mud ; I hope you have not been riding them last night, sirrah ! I know you are full of tricks !" " Eh, eh ! massa, me no say, me quite sick ; war for me go ride de poor dumb brute for, dat's all ?" While this dialogue passes in the stable between the injured master and his faulty groom, respecting the state of “ de poor dumb brute," who, had he the power of speech, could, like Hamlet's ghost, “ a tale unfold," a similar conversation takes place in the house between the mistress and her confidential (!) domestic. " Celestina, what is the matter with you this morning ? you don't seem to know what you are doing,—are you ill ?" “ No, ma'am." “ Then what do you look so heavy and dull about?" " Me no able to sleep last night, missis," is the answer of the fatigued belle. When the family meet around the breakfast table, “ My dear," says the lady, addressing her cava sposa, “ do you know where John (the butler) is gone?" “ No, my dear," returns her better half, sipping his mocha ; " is he not in the house ?" “ No ; he has not been seen since last night." “Very strange," rejoins the gentleman. "I must make inquiries about it as soon as I have looked over the ' Weekly Register ;' the fellow gets too bad." At this moment the door opens, and John enters, his head tied up in a handkerchief and a quantity of plantain leaves ;* his countenance, deprived of its naturally deep black, displays a sickly-looking hue ; his heavy blood-shot eyes, turning from one member of the family to the other, as if to inquire what they had been saying about him, and presenting altogether a most rueful appearance. “ Why, John," cries his master, elevating * A negro's specific for the head-ache.