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LL

70 UNCLE TOMS CABIN; OR,

At this instant Dinah looked in to say the woman was awake,
and wanted to see missis. :

Mr. and Mrs. Bird went into the kitchen, followed by the two
eldest boys, the smaller fry having by this time been safely dis-
posed of in bed.
~ 'The woman was now sitting up on the settle by the fire. She
was looking steadily into the blaze, with a calm, heart-broken
expression, very different from her former agitated wildness.

“Did you want me?” said Mrs. Bird in gentle tones. “I
hope you feel better now, poor woman r

A long-drawn, shivering sigh was the only answer ; but she lifted
her dark eyes, and fixed them on her with such a forlorn and im-
ploring expression that the tears came into the little woman's eyes.

« You needn't be afraid of anything; we are friends here, poor
woman! ‘Tell me where you came from, and what you want,”
said she.

“I came from Kentucky,” said the woman.

“When?” said Mr. Bird, taking up the interrogatory.

“ To-night.”

“ How did you come ?”

“T crossed on the ice.”

« Crossed on the ice ”’ said everyone present.

Yes,” said the woman slowly. “I did. God helping me, I
crossed on the ice; for they were behind me—right behind—and
there was no other way !"’

“Law, missis,” said Cudjoe, “the ice is all in broken-up
blocks, a swinging and a tettering up and down in the water !”

“ T know it was—I know it!” said she wildly ; ‘but I did it!
I wouldn't have thought I could—I didn’t think I should get over ;
but I didn’t care! I could but die if I didn't. The Lord helped
me; nobody knows how much the Lord can help’em, till they
try,” said the woman with a flashing eye. :

“ Were you a slave?’ said Mr. Bird. |

“ Yes, sir; I belonged to a man in Kentucky.’

“ Was he unkind to you?”

“No, sir; he was a good master.”

« And was your mistress unkind to you

“ No sir—no! my mistress was always good to me.”

‘ What could induce you to leave a good home, then, and run
away, and go through such dangers ?”’

The woman looked up at Mrs. Bird with a keen, scrutinising
glance, and it did not escape her that she was dressed in deep
mourning.

“Ma'am,” she said suddenly, “ have you ever lost a child?”

The question was unexpected, and it was a thrust on a new
wound; for it was only a mon th since a darling child of the
family had been laid in the grave.

Mr. Bird turned round and walked to the window, and Mrs.
Bird burst into tears ; but, recovering her voice, she said

——— a

 

 

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