'at he
say, an' ef dey kills him er he kills any er dem, it'll be all de same
ter me--I'll never see 'm no mo' in dis worl'. Ef I could borry de
money, Miss Laura--Mars' Colonel--I'd wuk my fingers ter de bone 'tel
I paid back de las' cent. Er ef you'd buy Bud, suh, lack you did Unc'
Peter, he would n' mind wukkin' fer you, suh, fer Bud is a good wukker
we'n folks treats him right; an' he had n' never had no trouble nowhar
befo' he come hyuh, suh."

"How did he come to be arrested the first time?" asked the colonel.

"He didn't live hyuh, suh; I used ter live hyuh, an' I ma'ied him
down ter Madison, where I wuz wukkin'. We fell out one day, an' I got
mad and lef' 'im--it wuz all my fault an' I be'n payin' fer it evuh
since--an' I come back home an' went ter wuk hyuh, an' he come aftuh
me, an de fus' day he come, befo' I knowed he wuz hyuh, dis yer Mistah
Haines tuck 'im up, an' lock 'im up in de gyard house, like a hog in
de poun', an' he didn' know nobody, an' dey didn' give 'im no chanst
ter see nobody, an' dey tuck 'im roun' ter Squi' Reddick nex' mawnin',
an' fined 'im an' sol' 'im ter dis yer Mistuh Fettuhs fer ter wo'k out
de fine; an' I be'n wantin' all dis time ter hyuh fum 'im, an' I'd
done be'n an' gone back ter Madison to look fer 'im, an' foun' he wuz
gone. An' God knows I didn' know what had become er 'im, 'tel he run
away de yuther time an' dey tuck 'im an' sent 'im back again. An' he
hadn' done nothin' de fus' time, suh, but de Lawd know w'at he won' do
ef dey sen's 'im back any mo'."

Catharine had put her apron to her eyes and was sobbing bitterly. The
story was probably true. The colonel had heard underground rumours
about the Fetters plantation and the manner in which it was supplied
with labourers, and his own experience in old Peter's case had made
them seem not unlikely. He had seen Catharine's husband, in the
justice's court, and the next day, in the convict gang behind Turner's
buggy. The man had not looked like a criminal; that he was surly and
desperate may as well have been due to a sense of rank injustice as to
an evil nature. That a wrong had been done, under cover of law, was at
least more than likely; but a deed of mercy could be made to right it.
The love of money might be the root of all evil, but its control was
certainly a means of great good. The colonel glowed with the
consciousness of this beneficent power to scatter happiness.

"Laura," he said, "I will attend to this; it is a