"Te-hee! te-hee!" tittered the old man; "te-hee! te-hee! I dun'no, Winny, gal. I 'spect I's older dan you be; but I dun'no—te-hee! te-hee!"
"Wal, I shouldn't wonder if yer wuz," said Winny, quietly regarding him.
"And have you got a mother too, Winny?" inquired Alice.
"A mudder?—no, I guess not. I neber heerd o' none. Say, ole nigger!" turning to her father, "we aint got no mudder, hab we?"
"Te-hee! te-hee! No, no, Winny, gal," tittered the old man. "No mudder! no mudder! no, no!—te-hee! te-hee!"
"I tort not," said Winny, turning to Alice. "Yer see we two haz been pardners a many years, an' I guess dar aint no mudder in de biz'ness; I neber see none roun'. Yer didn't neber hab no mudders, did ye, Drosky?"
"Te-hee! te-hee! Neber a mudder, gal—never; te-hee! te-hee!"
"Is he so very deaf, Winny?" asked Alice, finding that Winny raised her voice almost to a scream whenever she addressed her father.
