't doubt but you are tired with so much fatigue; you look so; go
and sleep on one of their beds; you shall have one for yourself by
night."

I was not sorry to do as she proposed, for I was tired out. I lay
down, and did not wake till she called me and told me that dinner was
ready. I was quite ready for that also, and I sat down with her, but
the two convict servants did not. She ate in proportion to her size,
and that is saying enough. After dinner she left me, and went with her
two men on her farming avocations, and I was for a long while
cogitating on what had passed. I perceived that I was completely in
her power, and that it was only by obtaining her good-will that I had
any chance of getting away, and I made up my mind to act accordingly.
I found a comfortable bed, of the husks of Indian corn, prepared for
me at night, in an ante-room where the two servant-men slept. It was a
luxury that I had not enjoyed for a long while. For several days I
remained very quiet, and apparently very contented. My mistress gave
me no hard work, chiefly sending me on messages or taking me out with
her. She made the distinction between me and the convicts that I
always took my meals with her and they did not. In short, I was
treated as a friend and visitor more than any thing else, and had I
not been so anxious about going to England, I certainly had no reason
to complain except of my detention, and this, it was evident, it was
not in her power to prevent, as, until the sloop went away with the
tobacco, she had no means of sending me away. One day, however, as I
was walking past the tobacco-shed, I heard my name mentioned by the
two convicts, and stopping, I heard James say,

"Depend upon it, that's what she's after, Jeykell; and he is to be our
master, whether he likes it or not."

"Well, I shouldn't wonder," replied the other; "she does make pure
love to him, that's certain."

"Very true; every thing's fierce with her--even love--and so he'll
find it if he don't fancy her."

"Yes, indeed:--well, I'd rather serve another ten years than she
should fall in love with me."

"And if I had my choice, whether to be her husband or to swing, I
should take the cord in preference."

"Well, I pity him from my heart; for he is a good youth, and a
fair-spoken and a handsome, too; and I'm sure that he has no idea of
his unfortunate situation."

"No idea, indeed," said I to myself, as I walked away. "Merciful
Heaven! is it possible!" And