Grange used to dress him so fine and treat him so well that he thought
no one would ever tempt Peter to leave him; and he came North with him
every year for three or four summers, and he always made out that he was
afraid of the abolitionists--bobolitionists he used to call them--and
Mr. Le Grange just believed that Peter was in earnest, and somehow he
got Mrs. Le Grange to bring his wife North to wait on her. And when they
both got here, they both left; and Mrs. Le Grange had to wait on
herself, until she got another servant. She told me she had got enough
of the North, and never wanted to see it again so long as she lived;
that she wouldn't have taken three thousand dollars for them."

"Well, darling, they would have never left, if these meddlesome
abolitionists hadn't put it in their heads; but, darling, don't bother
your brain about such matters. See what I have bought you this morning,"
said he, handing her a necklace of the purest pearls; "here, darling, is
a birth-day present for you." Camilla took the necklace, and gazing
absently upon it said, "I can't understand it."

"What is it, my little philosopher, that you can't understand?"

"Pa, I can't understand slavery; that man made me think it was something
very bad. Do you think it can be right?"

Le Croix's face flushed suddenly, and he bit his lip, but said nothing,
and commenced reading the paper.

"Why don't you answer me, Pa?" Le Croix's brow grew darker, but he tried
to conceal his vexation, and quietly said, "Darling, never mind. Don't
puzzle your little head about matters you cannot understand, and which
our wisest statesmen cannot solve."