half past two on Sunday afternoons
`` _ Is _ this my house ? '' `` Yas , sir , but Carline , she -- '' `` And are you my nigger ? '' persisted the Colonel plaintively . `` Yas , sir ; but you see , Carline -- '' `` And have n't I , for twenty years , '' persisted the Colonel , `` been taking a mint julep at half past two on Sunday afternoons ? '' `` Yas , sir , I was a comin ' -- '' `` Then you do n't regard it as an unreasonable request , that a gentleman should ask his own nigger , in his own house , to bring him a small piece of ice ? '' The Colonel 's sense of injury was becoming so overpowering that the offender might have been crushed by contrition had not a laugh made them both look up . Standing in the doorway was a young girl in a short riding habit , and a small hat of red felt that was carelessly pinned to her bright , tumbled hair .