Partrick tells me you want to talk with the lady whose life
you saved last night."
"Not exactly to talk _with_ her, but about her. I feel that I can trust
you, even with her destiny. That lady is my mistress. She is an angel of
goodness. I am perfectly willing to be _her_ slave, so that it was not
to gain my freedom I escaped in this box. It was to save her from a
cruel wrong which her uncle would inflict upon her."
"That old gentleman who is with her?" interrupted Uncle Nathan.
"The same. He is the most hardened villain in the world,--so different
from my poor master, who was a good man, and loved even his slaves! This
man would make it appear that my mistress is not the legitimate child of
her father, but the daughter of a quadroon girl, whom he formerly owned.
He has forged a will to obtain his own purposes, and deprived poor
mistress of her natural rights. But, on the night when the villany was
perpetrated, I managed to obtain the true will, and to make my
escape,--and a very narrow escape it was, for I was shot at and obliged
to jump into the river to save my life.
Pages:
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180