"In throth it is; go an avick. Phadrick!"

"I'm listenin'."

"Phadrick, do you know the differ atween black an' white'?"

"Atween black an' white? Hut, gorsoon, to be sure I do."

"Well, an' what might it be, Phadrick, my larned Athiop? What might it
be, I negotiate?"

"Why, thin, the differ atween them is this, Dinny, that black is--let me
see--why--that black is not red--nor yallow--nor brown--nor green--nor
purple--not cut-beard--nor a heather color--nor a grog-ram"--

"Nor a white?"

"Surely, Dinny, not a white, abouchal; don't think to come over me that
way."

"But I want to know what color it is, most larned sager."

"All rasonable, Dinny, Why, thin, black is--let me see--hut, death
alive!--it's--a--a--why, it's black, an' that's all I can say about it;
yes, faix, I can--black is the color of Father Curtis's coat."

"An' what color is that, Phadrick?"

"Why, it's black, to be sure."