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134 The Conjure Woman 

"How is you feelin' dis atternoon, ma'm?" 

"She is not very cheerful, Julius," I said. My wife was apparently without energy enough to speak for herself. 

The old man did not seem inclined to go away, so I asked him to sit down. I had noticed, as he came up, that he held some small object in his hand. When he had taken his seat on the top step, he kept fingering this object, - what it was I could not quite make out. 

"What is that you have there, Julius?" I asked, with mild curiosity. 
"Dis is my rabbit foot, suh." 

This was at a time before this curious superstition had attained its present jocular popularity among white people, and while I had heard of it before, it had not yet outgrown the charm of novelty. 

"What do you do with it?" 
"I kyars it wid me fer luck, suh." 
"Julius," I observed, half to him and