CHAPTER 10.  The Henry Family.
Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord: she shall be praised. SOLOMON
It was in May I think; at least I remember that the first roses were blowing, when I recovered my accustomed strength, and became able to pass in and out as I pleased, and to form an acquaintance with the many interesting objects surrounding the house, and con- nected in various ways with this amiable family. Every house with its surroundings possesses an air of individu- ality. In some it is more strongly developed than in others, yet it appertains to all in a greater or less degree. "Forget me not" as this dwelling had been beautifully and not inappropriately named was one of those dear old houses rich in panel work and fresco, and whose construction from first to last bespeaks an association with the past. Who does not find a charm about these ancient houses, with their delightfully irregular apartments, embellished with quaint carvings and mouldings, brown with age, and awaking in the mind a thousand reminiscen[c]es of olden times and fashions. Such houses were built rather for solid utility than for show, con- sequently the materials are durable and the timbers massy, but there is likewise a great deal of variety, taste, and elaborate orna- menting. You cannot take them in at a glance, or understand their

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design at first sight as in those of modern style. But you pass from one room into another, and go up and down steps, and note a bountiful supply of little hails, entries, and passages leading you cannot tell where. Then every room seems a wonder in itself, with its old-fashioned fire place, and little windows, surrounded by lat- tice work with the luxuriant growth of honey-suckle and jasmine pressing through it; to say nothing of the great numbers of small doors concealed behind panels, and opening into closets, ward- robes, and beaufats [buffets] abundantly provided with shelves and hooks for storing away or hanging up things, with other little con- trivances for convenience and usefulness that it might be tedious to mention. Such a house as this was "Forget me not." And then strike the furniture coincided exactly with the style of the building unstrike    it was furnished in a style and manner that corresponded exactly with itself. The furniture was not old, but rather old-fashioned, various, and pleasantly irregular. One room really seemed a parterre of flow- ers-flowers natural and artificial--flowers of wax, of paper, of needle-work, and embroidery--flowers of chintz, of velvet and of brocade. Yet there was no sameness about it; for these beauties of the fields and gardens, whatever might [be] their substance, were so varied in shape and color, and arranged with so much taste that they had a happy and surprising effect. The furniture of this room was light airy and fantastic after the fashion of garden chairs and benches, with a small table deeply carved with the design of a wreath, turning around the legs, along the sides, and gathered into a strike bunch unstrike a bunch of leaves on the top. Another room was adorned with shells, another with pictures of birds, all various yet so beautiful and true to nature that I never wearied in looking at them. Here were birds of Paradise just drop- ping into the balmy recesses of some cinnamon grove; and there were flocks of splendid macaws hovering over the magnificent
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palms of the tropics. The great white owl of the North strike was not forgotten, indeed all the countries of the earth were represented in the portraits of the  unstrike    with the surrounding deserts of snow was not forgotten; indeed all the countries of the earth were represented in the portraits of their birds. In other rooms there wm a mingling of unique and singular oh- jects in tastel consion. Pictures of men, angels and domestic imals side by side with landscapes wrought in needle-work, or sketches in crayons of rocks, crags, and rivers. In these rooms the tables and chairs were of great variety and pattern. No two were alike. There were great chairs stuffed and covered with courtly brocade and little chairs in chintz, some had high backs and some had low, some were turned, others caed, while some were provided with rockers, others with cmtors [craters], and others again had neither. The same quaint variety prevailed everywhere and in everything. it strike the carpets, hangings, glasses, usntrike was displayed in the car- pets, the hangings, and the glmses, and even in the scent-bottles and pincushions on the toilet tables. They agreed in nothing, but perfect neatness and good taste. In the lodges of the secants, and eve thing pertaining to the establishment the same variety was obseable. There was a gar- den for flowers, another for vegetables, and a third for fruit. There was a spring in one place, a well in another, and a fountain in a third. I could never sufficiently admire the order and harmony of the arrangements, which blent [blended] so many parts into a perfect whole. Method and regularity likewise prevailed over the estate. The overseer wm gentle and kind, and the slaves were industrious and obedient, not through fear of punishment, but because they strike felt it to be their duty unstrike  loved and respected a minter and mistress so amiable and good. Of these, especially the master, I have hitherto

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said little, and even now it is not my intention to draw their por- traits. I could not do so if I wished. I might, indeed, describe their size and figure, might enlarge on the color of strike their unstrike their eyes and hair, but after all what language could portray the ineffable expression of a countenance beaming with soul and intelligence? how should I convey in words an adequate idea of a manner re- fined by education, polished by mingling in good society, and perfected by that true Christian politeness which springs from kindness of heart ? Mr Henry was a clergyman, and his naturally mild and genial disposition had been softened and tempered by the benignacy of religion. Early in life he found a partner like himself wise, pious, and gentle, and the fruit of their union was two docile children, a girl and a boy, named respectively Charley and Anna. It would be a difficult matter to tell what station I filled in this lovely family. I was not considered a servant, neither was I treated exactly as a guest, though with quite as much kindness and con- sideration. There was a pleasant familiarity in their manner to- wards me that a visitor could scarcely have expected, mingled with a sort of reserve that continually reminded me I was not one of them. How much I desired to be so it would be impossible to tell. Mrs Henry one day desired to speak with me in the parlor. I felt a strange misgiving that some unpleasant communication awaited me, and I was still more convinced of this when I saw the com- passionate expression of her countenance. Tears spring to my eyes unbidden. "Hannah, my dear, be seated, and don't weep" said Mrs Henry. "I have important news for you. The gentleman to whom we com- municated the fact of your late master's death, and who it appears was his next of kin, and consequently his heir, states in this letter" and she drew one from her pocket "that he shall be here next week
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to establish his claim to you. He supposes that there will be no dif- ficulty in that, or in your removal hence." Much as I had feared and anticipated all this, the dread reality shocked me like a thunderbolt, l stood silent for a moment, and then threw myself at her feet. "Mrs Henry" I said "you can save me from this. I have an inex- pressible desire to stay with you. You are so good, accomplished, and Christian-like, could I only have the happiness to be your slave, your servant, or--" "Hannah, dear" she said interrupting me "you must not talk in that way, neither should you kneel to mortal woman; now rise and let us discuss this matter calmly. She held out her hand so white and soft and beautiful. "No; Mrs Henry" I continued "here let me kneel at your feet till you promise to pity and save me. My sphere is so humble, and I am so forlorn and destitute, and you are by nature and position so far above me that you may not think how I feel in view of this dreadful doom, but Oh: my dear good madam be mindful of what I have suffered, and of what I still must suffer, thus transferred from one to another, and save me; for you can.["] "No; Hannah, I cannot" she said stifling the emotion that was choking her. "Do not decide so soon" I replied. "Let me hope a moment. I do not ask you to buy me and then set me free. I do not require any extra favors or advantages. Let me perform the menial service of your household--Let me go to the fields and labor there--let me be a drudge, a scallion I care not--nay I would accept the situa- tion with the greatest thankfulness--all I ask is to feel, and know of a certainty that I have a home, that some one cares for me, and that I am beyond the gripe [grip] of these merciless slave-traders and speculators. "Hannah: Hannah, tempt me not."

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"And why not, my dear Madam. Why not tempt you to accept the service of one who would be so faithful devoted, and zealous to serve you every day--who would do her utmost in all possible things. You would never repent it, you could not repent it, because we should both be happier." There was so much sympathy and such an affectionate tender- ness in her looks that I was encouraged to press myself upon her. I felt that everything which could render life valuable to me was at stake, no wonder then that I spoke with ardor, or forgot the rules of good breeding in my earnestness to gain my point. "You do not imagine" I continued. "You have no idea how good I will be, or how exactly I will conform myself to all your wishes." She lifted me from the floor, she embraced me, and compas- sionated over me. She wept, and our tears were mingled together. "I must tell you my history, Hannah" she said "and then you will see how utterly impossible it is for me to do as you desire, unless, indeed, I perjure my own soul. This house, this estate and these ser- vants were all the property of my father. He was a worldly-minded man, and a man of the world, but during the long lingering and painful illness of which he died his views of property were materi- ally changed. I was an only child, and consequently an heiress. I had married Mr Henry contrary to his will, but face to face with death and eternity his anger relaxed, and he summoned me to his dying bed, to receive his forgiveness, and last solemn counsel and bene- diction. He could only converse at intervals of great agony. Oh: it was a mournful death-bed, a mournful death-bed.I"] She paused overcome by strong emotion. "I would not describe the scene if I could, and I could not if I would" she continued recovering herself by a strong effort of self- control "but his last moments were embittered by remorse. He had been a trafficker in human flesh and blood, in the lives and souls of men, and conscience arrayed them all against him. Like
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the accusing spirit of Cesar summoning Brutus to Philippi they charged him to meet and answer them at the bar of God. "In those awful moments he exacted from me a solemn prom- ise never on any occasion to sell or buy a servant, as then with the realities of a judgement and eternity before him it appeared the greatest crime, he said, of which a human being could be capable. He conjured me if I desired a death-bed of peace, and an immor- tality of blessedness to avoid the hedious traffic in every form." "And you promised?" "I promised, Hannah, promised by [a] dear dying parent in the presence of the ministers of religion, and with the awful solemni- ties of the hour and scene pressing upon my soul. That oath I never can violate. My right hand may forget her cunning, or my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, but such an engagement, made too at such time is of too sacred and solemn an import ever to be broken." "Even so." "My father to show his sincerity, and right strike as far as possible unstrike the wrong he had practiced as much as possible, set apart a certain por- tion of his estate to lie with the interest accumulating during my natural life, and then to be equally apportioned among the ser- vants, who are all to be emancipated. And now dear Hannah, do you wish me to break that vow?" she asked. I could not say that I did, and yet my heart rose against the man, who in a slave-holding country could exact such a promise. Since in a multitude of cases the greatest favor that a mild kind-hearted man or woman can bestow on strike the out cast servile race unstrike members of the outcast servile race is to buy them. I almost felt that he had done me as a personal injury, an irreparable wrong. Perhaps she divined my thoughts. With a countenance sympa- thising, yet half-reproachful she inquired if there was no other way

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in which she could assist me, and thereby prove how much inter- est she felt in my forlorn condition. I answered that I did not know. "I have a friend and distant relative in North Carolina" she con- tinued. "Their names are Wheeler, and they are considered very kind and humane to their slaves. They are coming here this sum- mer, and Mrs Wheeler informs me that she wishes to purchase a maid-servant, providing she can find one whose capabilities and acquirements meet her approbation. If your prospective master is a lenient man, and has no other views in regard to you I should think that you might probably be transferred to her.["] She looked towards me, and I saw that she waited for an an- swer. Just at that moment I felt that it mattered little where I went, or what became of me. I was disheartened and disap- pointed, without hope in this world, and half-forgetful of my trust in the next. I replied not with the patient, meek, and thank- ful spirit that I ought, but as my feelings for the time being die- tated, that I was hopeless, helpless and friendless, and that I had no further choice. "Hannah" the word was uttered in such a sorrowful tone of re- proach that I looked involuntarily towards the speaker. If her voice had expressed much, more a great deal more of forbearing sympa- thy was shown in her countenance. I perceived in a moment the injustice and unkindness of my remarks. I remembered her patient care of me, a stranger and a slave. Again I knelt at her feet, and poured out in strike long bitter language my feeling dictated all the fondness of my gratitude unstrike language, rendered impassioned and burning by my strong feelings, all the ful[l]ness of my gratitude to her, my sensibility to the kindnesses of her family, and my per- feet conviction that I had no reason to expect any more. "But you may expect more, Hannah" she replied. "You may ex- pect any favor or kindness of me, with that one exception. And
after all that is not much. You may be happier with some one else than you could have been with me. You know not the good things Providence may have in store for you. You must not forget him, and His abounding grace." And thus she soothed, and comforted, and consoled me, and through her blessed influence I came to experience a better state of mind. In the passage leading to my room I met little Anna. As usual I was a great favorite with the children, and stretching out her white beautiful arms towards me she clamed a kiss. My cheeks were wet with tears, which the affectionate child was not slow in perceiving. "I don't see what makes everybody so unhappy" she said in her artless manner. "Why, are they?" I replied. "I guess so, you weep, and so does Lotty, and I can't tell how many more." "Lorry weeps" I repeated. She was the new-made bride, and should have been happy. "To be sure she does" answered the simple child. "And then don't you think she refuses to tell me what ails her, and when I ask her, and coax her, and kiss her she only cries the more." "Have you told your mamma?" I inquired. "No: Lotty said that I must not, that it would only make Mamma unhappy to hear it, and I don't want to make her un- happy, you know." It struck me that probably Charlotte had some other reason for wishing to conceal her tears from her mistress, though why she should be so unhappy I could not divine. She was young, well- educated, and possessed of many .advantages. Her mistress was kind and indulgent, she was not required to do any menial ser- vice, but only to attend on the children. What multitudes of peo-

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pie, white and black, might have envied the situation in which she was miserable. Alas; those that view slavery only as it relates to physical suf- ferings or the wants of nature, can have no conception of its great- est evils.
CHAPTER 11. An elopement
Deliver me, Oh Lord.
DAVID
And hurry, hurry, off they rode As fast as fast can be; BURGHER
I have always thought that in a state of servitude marriage must be at best of doubtful advantage. It necessarily compli- cates and involves the relation of master and slave, adds new ties to those already formed, and is at the bottom of many trou- bles and afflictions that might otherwise be escaped. The slave, if he or she desires to be content, should   strike never think of unstrike   always remain in celibacy. If it was my purpose I could bring many reasons to substantiate this view, but plain, practical common sense must teach every observer of mankind that any situation involving such responsibilities as marriage can only be filled with profit, and honor, and advantage by the free. The information conveyed by little Anna, light and trivial as it might have appeared to another, had real weight and importance with me. Not that it is anything remarkable for the best- conditioned women to weep occasionally, but such frequent bursts of sorrow attended with attempted concealment, at a time too, considered to be the happiest in a woman's life, had an air of

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[ mystery sufficient to excite the conjectures of even a more curious person than myself. I now recollected that I had observed something singular in the manner of Charlotte, especially for the few last days. On several oc- casions I had caught her eyes lifted to my face with an intense ex- pression of inquiry, and many times I had fancied that she wished yet feared to ask me for a private interview. Then, too, I was aware that she generally spent the night in some mysterious employ- ment. I had seen lights gleaming   strike from the unstrike through the windows of her apartment at unusual hours, I had remarked shadows pass- ing and repassing by the moonlight in concealed places. Simulta- neously with this the servants became alarmed, and strange reports of an unearthly visitant were put in circulation. Some averred that they had seen him breathing fire and smoke as he crept stealthily along the halls and through the passages. Others declared that there were two, instead of one, and others again were of the opin- ion that the spirit had the power of appearing single or double either. At first Mr and Mrs Henry were disposed to treat the whole matter with silent contempt, but it soon became an affair of seri- ous difficulty. Not a servant could be persuaded to leave the house after dark on any emergency. Lights must be kept burning all night in their various apartments lest "de ghost" should steal on them unaware, and an infant that had been sick a long time actu- ally died very sudden One night, and its mother preferred to lie with the cold stiff corpse strike there unstrike untill morning, to getting up and alarming the house. For my own part, however, I seldom strike never unstrike gave way to imagi- nary terror. I found enough in the stern realities of life to disquiet and perplex, without going beyond the boundaries of time to meet new sources of apprehension, and so I rested calmly in the assur- ance that whether spirit or man, angel or devil, or neither, it was
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nothing that could change my destiny, or affect in the least degree my happiness or misery. I was accustomed to set [sit] up late; of that probably every person in the house was aware. Harassing anx- iety is not a friend to sleep. Then I preferred the still quiet of night for meditation. Two weeks had elapsed since my prospective mas- ter was expected, and he came not. This rather contributed to in- crease than alleviate my uneasiness, as the worst reality is always preferable to suspense. The bell had just chimed the midnight hour when I was star- tled one night by a slight noise in an adjoining apartment. Very slight, indeed, and had there been nothing unusual in the sound, scarcely sufficient to have attracted attention. Night is certainly the time for mysterious noises. Window shutters will rattle, when apparently there is no wind. Sounds like heavy objects falling to the floor will break your slumbers, and then the rats and mice in their antics and gambols will create a thousand startling echoes, but this was not like either. It resembled, in fact a suppressed human cough. I listened. There was certainly the sound of muffled footsteps, and then the suppressed creaking of a door stealthily opened. My heart beat audi[b]ly. Should I rise, open my own door, and attempt to penetrate the mystery. There might be a robber in the house, or some one bent on an evil purpose. But instanta- neously, and before I had time to decide old Jo, a negro, who loved above all things to indulge in strong potations of brandy, burst into my apartment in the most ludicrous state of terror conceiv- able. His eyes, large and glaring, seemed actually starting from their sockets, his teeth chattered and his whole frame trembled as with the ague. Before I could rebuke his very unceremonious ingress, he cried out "Oh: Missus, de ghost, de ghost, sabe me from de ghost." "The ghost" I replied "where is it?" The old fellow, however was to[o] badly frightened to give any-

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thing like a coherent statement, but putting this and that together as the adage runs I was enabled to make out that Jo as usual was drunk and asleep in one of the entries leading to Charlotte's room. That he was suddenly awakened by the gleam of light, and a sen- sation of pain, for the ghost, to employ his own expression tread on his toes, and was plaguey heavy. "And, Missus" continued Joe, "he looked so orful." "How did he look, Jo?" ["]I cant 'scribe it, but orful, so orful, that I jumped up quicker dan dese old bones hab moved afore dis menny a day. He guv fist [gave first] one spring after [after] me as I shot by, and den he vanished." "I am not so sure of that, Jo." Waiting till Jo partly recovered from his fright I persuaded the old fellow to leave me, and go to bed, as I wished to be alone. We had that day heard that Charlotte's husband, strike having unstrike after being severely, and as he thought unjustly punished by his master had run away strike and that he had been unstrike that he had been gone several days, and that all efforts to discover his place of concealment had signally failed. It occurred to me at once that some connection existed between his elopement and the appearance of this ghost, or was the man and the ghost identical? The conjecture was wild, though not beyond the bounds of probability. I determined at once to fathom the mystery without reflecting whether honor or justice strictly considered required such exertion on my part. Neither did I pause to ask myself by what right I presumed to interfere with the secrets of a house where I was myself admitted only by toler- ance, but settling in my mind the best manner of proceeding I drew on my cloak and bonnet, and passed without noise from my room, and thence by a narrow entry reached the outer door. This I opened and shut silently, and passing around the house in its broad shadow paused immediately beneath the windows of Charlotte's
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room. These were usually shaded by white curtains so delicate and thin, that the light could be readily discerned shining through them, but it seemed to me that in order to court security, if her runaway husband were really concealed within, some deeper and darker drapery would probably be considered necessary. Neither was I disappointed. Paper hangings were suspended over the white curtains, though at the bottom of one, which slightly rolled up, the gleam of a lamp within could be distinctly seen. This rather stimulated than gratified my curiosity. For what purpose was he there; did Mr Henry know of it; would he approve of Charlotte's concealing him, and v,-c;e would not serious consequences ensue if the matter became known. Such and similar questions arose to my mind at once, and I determined to acquaint Mr Henry of my sus- picions in the morning. Then I recollected that I had no certain proof; that it [was] mere belief, founded on impressions I could scarcely analyze, and cer- tainly could not transmit to any one else, and that silence after all would probably be the wisest course. From my post of observation I could discover nothing more, but I knew very well that her room had only one door, and that her vis- itor must make his exit as he had entered; for certain detection would follow any attempt to remain in that apartment during the day, it being one of those appropriated to the children. Re-entering the house without noise I was just in time to discover two persons softly gliding out by another door. I felt certain that they had not discovered me, and I quickly perceived that one was a man, the other a woman, and it was no difficult matter to decide their iden- tity. I hesitated a moment, and then decided to follow them though not sufficiently near to excite observation. Gliding directly down the graveled walks, they paused for an instant only before the small gate that communicated with a nar- row lane, or bye-road shaded on either side by forest and fruit

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trees. The gate opened and shut mechanically, and I lost sight of them in the broad deep shadows. The night had been beautifully bright and starlight [sic], but a cloud was rising and the heavens became blacker and darker every moment. The wind soughed wildly among the branches, and the gleam of lightning accompa- nied at intervals by the low distant mutter of thunder betokened an approaching shower. I felt my resolution giving way, not that night, or darkness, or tempest were the occasion of terror. I could have braved them all in a good cause, but I began to question the use, or necessity, or even the expediency of my instituting an espi- onage on the actions of one every way my equal, perhaps my su- perior. Wherefore should I attempt to unravel a mystery that did not concern me, or to interfere in affairs, of which I should only be an observer. Then would not ignorance be more consistent with my own peace? How could I acquit my conscience of cruelty and wrong if through discoveries made and information given by me the happiness of Charlotte and her husband should be destroyed, by his subjection for the second time into servitude. Full of these thoughts I retreated into the house, and to my room, half ashamed that I had suffered my curiosity to overstep the bounds of strict propriety. It was near morning when Charlotte returned, though I had not yet been asleep. The next morning the old house-keeper sought Mrs Henry with a great complaint. The rats, she said, had devoured her pies, and made sad havoc with the cakes. Charlotte was present, and her cheeks burned, and her eyes fell beneath the gaze of mine. Jo de- clared that the ghost had doubtless eaten them, but several others well versed in such matters assured him that ghosts did not eat. From this difference a quarrel arose, that finally terminated in heavy blows, and Mr Henry was oblidged to settle the difficulty by refusing any further allusion to the subject.
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Sometime that day Charlotte contrived to slip a note privately into my hands. I thrust it into my pocket and made an excuse for retiring that I might read it. It ran thus
"Will you have the goodness to favor an unfortunate woman with a private interview to[-]night in the bower at the bottom of the garden; the hour of meeting midnight." Charlotte
With a penetrating glance of inquiry she looked towards me, when I came again into her presence. I slightly nodded when her countenance brightened up with pleasure, and she soon after left the apartment. I spent the time in vain conjectures of what could be the pur- port of Charlotte's errand with me. That it was something con- nected with her husband I doubted not, but if she required assistance why not make a confidant of Mrs Henry, or of some one less helpless than myself. Of what use could I be to them, or why should they burden me with a secret that I began to think must be onerous? At last it occurred to me that I was attaching to[o] much importance to the whole affair, that it might be nothing of strike importance unstrike consequence, and that it would be much the wisest course to dismiss the subject from my mind. It was the Sabbath, and Mr Henry was accustomed to instruct his servants in the great truths of the Gospel on that day. His labors, however, occupied only the morning hours, and were con- fined to catechetical instruction, while during the afternoon they held strike prayer meetings among themselves unstrike meetings for prayer and exhortation in which any one who wished to was permitted to hold forth. In attending these religious exercises I found an agre[e]able diversion for my thoughts. The appeals to heaven though not char-

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acterised by much grace or elegance of diction were nevertheless earnest and fervid, and I doubt not that they found a place in the vial of odours which the angel in the apocalypse offered before the Throne of God. After the evening repast I attended Mrs Henry in a very pleas- ant walk among the strike various unstrike negro lodges, and in looking over their little truck patches and gardens, all of which gave evidence of being neatly attended in the absence of weeds and the appear- ances of thrifty growth in the various plants, vegetables, and flow- ers, designed for use and ornament. Various groups of persons,         young and old, all of whom seemed impressed with a strike feeling of reverance of the day unstrike reverential feeling of the sanctity of the day, and of regard for their mistress, were seated on little low benches at their doors, quietly enjoying the beauty of the evening. They all rose with courteous reverence to salute us as we passed, and in- vited us to walk over their grounds, and gather such flowers as we liked. I shall not soon forget the pleasing intimation of a devo- tional character impressed on each little party, by some perhaps formally assumed, but sincerely characterising the greater number, hushing the cheerful gayety of the young into a more quiet, though no less interesting exchange of sentiments, and suppress- ing the vehement arguments of those in more advanced age. Sauntering along by one of the lodges, which stood a little apart from the others in a picturesque spot beneath the shade of some trees we were surprised to hear the sharp and unmusical voice of Jo detailing to a group of wondering listeners an account of his strike last unstrike night's ghostly visitant. Of course the story lost nothing of the strange or marvellous by the recital, and the ludicrous counte- nances of the auditors, as they were variously excited by fear, won- der and apprehension were enough to have provoked a smile on the lip of Heraclitus. Their remarks were no less comical, as no one thought of attributing the appearance to natural causes.
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"Lord help de poor gose" said one old woman, with a withered smoke-dried face, black as ebony. "Doh say somebody hab been kilt, though I don't see no use of haunting ebery body 'cause dat." Others delivered themselves with equal effect; while an expres- sion of deep concern and anxiety was manifested in the counte- nance of Mrs Henry. "It is really strange," she remarked, as we returned towards the house. "My servants were never indulged in superstitious tenden- cies strike I am not aware that previous to this time there was cherished any such fears and apprehensions unstrike  I have always striven to instct them better than to put any confidence in such wild and un- founded reports. Jo was certainly drunk, and as all the secants are acquainted with his peculiar failing how absurd it is in them to encourage him to tell such Stories. strike by listen unstrike   "And yet, Mrs Hen, there may be something in it aer all" I answered. "Why, Hannah, superstitious, too" she said looking into my face with peculiar archness. "Not a particle of it, Made" I replied. "And yet I know of a certainty that this house is visited." "By whoma spirit?" "Not a spirit seperated from the flesh," and then I told her in m brief and concise a manner m possible of all that I had obseed and witnessed. With a painl expression of curiosity she heard me to the end without saying a word. When I ceased to speak she remarked that admitting all I supposed it wm a we delicate cme, and something that neither of us had better meddle with. In fact that having eyes we had better not see, and having ears we should not hear. That she hoped and trusted Charlotte's good sense would prevent her taking any rh or precipitate step likely to embarrms either, and

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that she should make it in her way to give the former a few words of caution and advice. "Now" I asked. ["]No: not immediately. It is only natural that she should wish to protect and assist her husband. She can do so, and not be cog- nisant as breaking the law of the land. The same action by us would be construed to infringe it. Therefore he must not come here. I must and do pity them both, but I cannot harbor him." We had music and family prayers at bed-time. All the servants, those, I mean, belonging to the house, were present with the ex- ception of Charlotte. She excused herself on a plea that I thought trivial at the time but as it was optional with the servants to at- tend these services or not, her absence elicited no remarks. Mr Henry's family were distinguished for early hours and the bell was just chiming twelve, though a dead silence had reigned for some time in the house, when putting on my bonnet and drawing a small shawl over my shoulders as a protection from the dew, I passed hastily from the house, descended the garden alley, and paused beside the bower that had been specified in the letter as the meeting place. Perfect silence reigned, but passing round to the entrance I strike discerned through the thick gloom that the form of unstrike  perceived   at some one was within. My approach was not unnoticed. A low voice whispered "Hannah." "The same." The figure rose, and through the thick gloom I discerned the form and lineaments of a man. The next moment I was joined by Charlotte. "Be not afraid" she whispered "it is only William." "And what is William doing here?" I inquired. "Oh, Hannah: you must hear him tell his story, and all that he
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has suffered; you will pity him then I know, you cannot help it. strike and will be ready unstrike  "Very likely, and yet my pity would not be available to any use- ful purpose." We had entered the arbor and all three were seated. "You must not talk so" said Charlotte. "We require your assis- tance, and more, your company. Hannah wouldn't you like to be free?" "Oh I should, I should, but then--" "What?" "The dangers, the difficulties, the obstructions in the way.["] "Yet these will all vanish before resolution and perseverance" said William. "There you are mistaken" I replied. "I have tried elopement once. I know what it is. I know what hunger, and thirst and expo- sure of every kind means. I know what it is to fear the face of man, to seek hiding places in woods, and caverns, and God helping me I never wish to endure the like again. "But we want you to go with us" said Charlotte. "With you; are you going, too." "I am," she replied courageously. "I am going with my dear husband, but Hannah I wanted a female friend to go with us, a good stout-hearted woman, who can look danger in the face un- blenched undaunted, whose counsel could guide us in emergen- cies, who would be true, and zealous, and faithful; my heart turned to you as the one." "And you are the one" continued William. Virtually you are free. Your old Master is dead. He met just the fate he deserved. As yet no other has claimed you, and no one has the right, even ac- cording to the laws of this accursed country, to prevent your going wherever you will. I told Charlotte to ask this interview, and now we urge, we insist that you should go with us. We have friends

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only a few miles hence. Once with them we shall be safe and can defy our enemies." That I was greatly surprised, and altogether unprepared to an- swer such a proposal in the most proper manner no one can for a moment doubt, but I did not hesitate to tell them that their scheme looked wild and unpromising, and that I feared the result would be unfortunate. Charlotte sighed. "There; Hannah, now don't dishearten my dear wife" he said, drawing her affectionately to his bosom. "Our minds are fixed; they cannot be changed, because we have no alternative. We must either be seperated or runaway, and which, think you, that an af- fectionate wife would choose? My master sold me to a southern trader, through sheer cruelty, I believe, and because he said that I was proud of my marriage. I happened to overhear the bargain. I cared nothing for the exchange of masters, because I had no fears of falling into the clutches of a worse one, but the idea of such pre- mature seperation from Charlotte nearly drove me wild. That night I came here and told her all, and she proposed that we should fly together to a land of freedom. How my heart bounded at the blessed name." During this long speech I had time to collect my thoughts, and I answered plainly that however just, or right, or expedient it might be in them to escape my accompanying their flight would be directly the reverse, that I could not lightly sacrifise the good opinion of Mrs Henry and her family, who had been so very kind to me, nor seem to participate in a scheme, of which the consum- mation must be an injury to them no less than a source of disquiet and anxiety. Duty, gratitude and honor forbid it. "And so to a strained sense of honor you willingly sacrifise a prospect of freedom" said William. "Well, you can hug the chain if you please. With me it is liberty or death."
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"You refuse to go with us, then" said Charlotte. "I must." "But you will not betray us. We have placed our secret in your hands." ["]And it shall be well kept, but don't tell me anything more. Let me remain in utter ignorance of all the circumstances you have         " connected with your flight, strike the way that you are going unstrike  give me no clue to the time, the course, the means, or the way." "Why not?" said William. "Because it will be better for all that I should know nothing." Thus our brief interview ended. The next morning Charlotte was missing. She did not appear to assist Mrs Henry at her toilet. A child was sent to summon her, who returned with the information that she could not be found. Her room was in the nearest order, her bed nicely made, and the drawers of her bureau closely shut. Then there was a great open- ing and shutting of doors, a calling through the rooms, and around the house. Mr Henry was the first to suggest that possibly she had gone off with her husband, and inquired whether her clothes re- mained in their accustomed places. But her wardrobe when ex- amined was found nearly empty; all the valuables having been removed. Mrs Henry wept. Charlotte had been to her as a daughter, strike and even now it was not her own so much as the wan unstrike and  more, more than her own loss she regretted the misery, want, and expo- sure, which the infatuated woman was bringing on herself. "And yet I cannot find it in my heart to blame her" remarked the amiable woman. "I ought to have foreseen all this, and yet I did not. The language of Scripture is just as true to[-]day as it was six thousand years ago. 'Thy desire shall be thy husband.' For him Charlotte could abandon her home, and long-tried friends. Heaven

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grant, that he prove worthy of the trust, and that they may reach in safety the land of freedom." That day we were somewhat surprised by the appearance of William's master, a Mr Cropp. He came attended by a party of Negroes, several blood-hounds, and the before-mentioned trader. He was evidently a hard stern man in whose soul pity never found refuge. The trader looked at me inquiringly. He had heard my story and asked if I was for sale. Mr Henry replied that he guessed not, at which the fellow expressed his sorrow. Mr Cropp expressed very plainly and firmly the object of his visit. The servants, he said, had reported that the house of Mr Henry was visited at night, as they supposed by a spirit, but being himself a matter-of-fact man and having little faith in supernatural visitants he thought it much more probable that his runaway slave sought in this manner to enjoy the society of Charlotte, and perhaps obtain assistance and provision from her. He further stated that William had actually been seen only the evening previous on Mr Henry's premises, and; finally ended by inquiring for Charlotte. Mrs Henry's countenance turned pale as death. He repeated the question with something of sternness in his tone. "In fact, Sir" said Mr Henry, coming forward. "We can tell you tell you [sic] nothing about Charlotte. She was here yesterday, to[-]day she is not." "Then she went off last night, eh" said the trader. "And they went together" answered Cropp. "This is better than I hoped, we can now put the dogs on the fresh track, and they can hardly fail to run them down." The dogs were long, gaunt, and lean, inexpressibly fierce with a cannibal look that made me tremble. Mr Henry inquired of Cropp if the dogs belonged to him.
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"No such good news as that" he answered. "They belong to my' brother-in-law fifty miles from here." "And you sent for them?" "I did, thinking Bill's recovery well worth the trouble and ex- pense. He was well worth fifteen hundred of any man's money, to say nothing of the example. If one of these fellows gets off safe, an- other will soon follow, and then another untill all the best hands have gone. But they hate mortally to be overtaken, and brought back, and with these hounds real Cuban, and the best in the coun- try I think we can catch them." "Do let them go" said Mrs Henry imploringly. "Let 'em go, indeed" said Cropp, and he exchanged glances with the trader. "Do you really sympathise with them so much, madam? in- quired the latter. Mr Henry strike caught the eyes of his wife beore she had time to answer and shook his head significantly usntrike  feared the consequences of   his wife's imprudence. "Let me reply for her" he said. "It is her nature to sympathise with evething weak and unprotected, and I believe most women are alike in this respect. "Far from it" said Cropp. "Why my wife is dev'lish hard on the slaves, worse than I be. She actually killed two or three of the best gals I ever had. Just worked them to death. I told her 'twasn't right, and money out of pocket, too." "Very well, Cropp" said the trader. "Your wife is sharp no doubt, and keen for her own interests which is right, but in one thing I don't agree with you. I don't believe there ever was a negro that would hurt himself at work. However I think we had better be off." The two arose, went out on the piazza, and stood a few minutes conversing in a low tone. Then Mr Cropp came back, put his head

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in at the door, and asked if strike William had been to the unstrike Mr. Henry  would object to letting the dogs into Charlotte's room. "They are undoubtedly together" said Cropp "and if Tiger, there, can get the scent of both on a fresh track their chances of es- cape ain't worth a farthing." Mrs Henry involuntarily raised her eyes to heaven; while her husband rose and himself led the way to the room they sought. The dogs ran round and round snuffing and smelling at the car- pet. At length Tiger uttered a fierce bay. "He has found the scent" said Cropp. "Hunt: seek 'em find 'em Tiger, that's a good dog." Thus encouraged the dog leaped furiously against the outer door. It was opened. He rushed out, tore down the garden alley, and entered the bower baying madly. We had no desire to look after them, but an hour later I heard their wild voices ringing through the forest. That night the prayer of Mr Henry was characterised by un- usual solemnity, and he especially asked the blessing and protec- tion of Heaven for such wanderers as had not where sic to lay their heads.