While the old woman was thus lecturing her daughter upon her
rights and duties, Henry, unaware of what was transpiring,
had left the house and gone to his office. As soon as the old
woman found that he was gone, she said,--

"I will venture anything that he is on his way to see that wench again.
I'll lay my life on it."

The entrance, however, of little Marcus, or Mark, as he was
familiarly called, asking for Massa Linwood's blue bag,
satisfied her that her son-in-law was at his office.
Before the old lady returned home, it was agreed that
Gertrude should come to her mother's to tea that evening,
and Henry with her, and that Mrs. Miller should there charge
the young husband with inconstancy to her daughter, and demand
the removal of Isabella.

With this understanding, the old woman retraced her steps
to her own dwelling.

Had Mrs. Miller been of a different character and not surrounded
by slavery, she could scarcely have been unhappy in such a home
as hers. Just at the edge of the city, and sheltered by large
poplar-trees was the old homestead in which she resided.
There was a splendid orchard in the rear of the house,
and the old weather-beaten sweep, with "the moss-covered bucket"
at its end, swung majestically over the deep well.
The garden was scarcely to be equalled. Its grounds were laid
out in excellent taste, and rare exotics in the greenhouse