nce he came back. Vincent wanted to have him as
his regular house servant; but it would have broken old Sam's heart if,
after being my father's boy and my husband's, another had taken his
place as Vincent's."

And so Dan had remained in the stable, but regarding Vincent as his
special master, carrying messages for him to his friends, or doing any
odd jobs he might require, and spending no small portion of his time in
sleep. Thus he was an object of special dislike to the overseer; in the
first place because he had not succeeded in having his way with regard
to him, and in the second because he was a useless hand, and the
overseer loved to get as much work as possible out of everyone on the
estate. The message had been a somewhat important one, as he wanted the
slaves for some work that was urgently required; and he lost his temper,
or he would not have done an act which would certainly bring him into
collision with Vincent.

He was well aware that the lad did not really like him, and that his
efforts to gain his good will had failed, and he had foreseen that
sooner or later there would be a struggle for power between them.
However, he relied upon his influence with Mrs. Wingfield, and upon the
fact that she was the life owner of the Orangery, and believed that he
would be able to maintain his position even when Vincent came of age.
Vincent on his side objected to the overseer's treatment of the hands of
which he heard a good deal from Dan, and had already remonstrated with
his mother on the subject.

He, however, gained nothing by this. Mrs. Wingfield had replied that he
was too young to interfere in such matters, that his English ideas would
not do in Virginia, and that naturally the slaves were set against the
overseer; and that now Pearson had no longer a master to support him, he
was obliged to be more severe than before to enforce obedience. At the
same time it vexed her at heart that there should be any severity on the
Orangery Estate, where the best relations had always prevailed between
the masters and slaves and she had herself spoken to Jonas on the
subject.

He had given her the same answer that she had given her son: "The slaves
will work for a master, Mrs. Wingfield, in a way they will not for a
stranger. They set themselves against me, and if I were not severe with
them I should get no work at all out of them. Of course, if you wish it,
they can do as they like; but in that case they must have another