operty, I was set down
in it. My mother was a slave woman, and my father had always meant to
set me free; but he had not done it, and so I was set down in the list.
I'd always known who I was, but never thought much about it. Nobody ever
expects that a strong, healthy man is going to die. My father was a well
man only four hours before he died;--it was one of the first cholera
cases in New Orleans. The day after the funeral, my father's wife took
her children, and went up to her father's plantation. I thought they
treated me strangely, but didn't know. There was a young lawyer who they
left to settle the business; and he came every day, and was about the
house, and spoke very politely to me. He brought with him, one day, a
young man, whom I thought the handsomest I had ever seen. I shall never
forget that evening. I walked with him in the garden. I was lonesome and
full of sorrow, and he was so kind and gentle to me; and he told me that
he had seen me before I went to the convent, and that he had loved me
a great while, and that he would be my friend and protector;--in short,
though he didn't tell me, he had paid two thousand dollars for me, and I
was his property,--I became his willingly, for I loved him. Loved!"
said the woman, stopping. "O, how I _did_ love that man! How I love him
now,--and always shall, while I breathe! He was so beautiful, so high,
so noble! He put me into a beautiful house, with servants, horses, and
carriages, and furniture, and dresses. Everything that money could buy,
he gave me; but I didn't set any value on all that,--I only cared for
him. I loved him better than my God and my own soul, and, if I tried, I
couldn't do any other way from what he wanted me to.

"I wanted only one thing--I did want him to _marry_ me. I thought, if he
loved me as he said he did, and if I was what he seemed to think I was,
he would be willing to marry me and set me free. But he convinced
me that it would be impossible; and he told me that, if we were only
faithful to each other, it was marriage before God. If that is true,
wasn't I that man's wife? Wasn't I faithful? For seven years, didn't I
study every look and motion, and only live and breathe to please him? He
had the yellow fever, and for twenty days and nights I watched with him.
I alone,--and gave him all his medicine, and did everything for him; and
then he called me his good angel, and said I'd saved his life. We had
two beautiful children. The first was a