"My property?"

"Your uncle's, leastways. Let me present myself. I am called Peter
Blood, and I am worth precisely ten pounds. I know it because that
is the sum your uncle paid for me. It is not every man has the same
opportunities of ascertaining his real value."

She recognized him then. She had not seen him since that day upon
the mole a month ago, and that she should not instantly have known
him again despite the interest he had then aroused in her is not
surprising, considering the change he had wrought in his appearance,
which now was hardly that of a slave.

"My God!" said she. "And you can laugh!"

"It's an achievement," he admitted. "But then, I have not fared as
ill as I might."

"I have heard of that," said she.

What she had heard was that this rebel-convict had been discovered
to be a physician. The thing had come to the ears of Governor Steed,
who suffered damnably from the gout, and Governor Steed had borrowed
the fellow from his purchaser. Whether by skill or good fortune,
Peter Blood had afforded the Governor that relief which his
excellency had failed to obtain from the ministrations of either of
the two physicians practising in Bridgetown. Then the Governor's
lady had desired him to attend her for the megrims. Mr. Blood had
found her suffering from nothing worse than peevishness - the result