"George," I says, "what did you say Miss Lucy
Buckner's gran-dad's name was?"
"Kunnel Hampton--des de same as MY Miss
Lucy befo' SHE done ma'hied Marse Willyum."
That made me sure of it. It was the same woman.
She had run away with David Armstrong from this
here same neighbourhood. Then after he got her
up North he had left her--or her left him. And
then she wasn't Miss Buckner no longer. And she
was mad and wouldn't call herself Mrs. Armstrong.
So she moved away from where any one was lible
to trace her to, and took her mother's maiden
name, which was Hampton.
"Well," I says, "what ever become of 'em after
they run off, George?"
But George has told about all he knows. They
went North, according to what everybody thinks,
he says. Prent McMakin, he follered and hunted.
And Col. Tom Buckner, he done the same. Fur
about a year Colonel Tom, he was always making
trips away from there to the North. But whether
he ever got any track of his sister and that David
Armstrong nobody knowed. Nobody never asked
him. Old Colonel Hampton, he grieved and he
grieved, and not long after the runaway he up and
died. And Tom Buckner, he finally sold all he
owned in that part of the country and moved
further south. George said he didn't rightly know
whether it was Alabama or Florida.
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