nce I can remember. We
raise more than we want ourselves; and when I see all those children
about, I wonder sometimes what on earth we are to find for them all to
do. Still, it was a scandalous thing of that man Jackson selling the
girl to punish her husband; and, as you say, it was your foolish
interference in the matter that brought it about, so I do not know that
I can blame you for doing what you can to set the matter straight.
Still, except that the knowledge that she is here, and will be well
treated, will be a comfort to the man, I do not see that he will be much
better off, unless, indeed, the Jacksons should try to sell him also, in
which case I suppose you will want to buy him."

"I am afraid they won't do that, mother. Still, somehow or other, in
time they may come together again."

"I don't see how they can, Vincent. However, we need not think of that
now. At any rate I hope there will be no further opportunity for your
mixing yourself up in this business. You have made two bitter enemies
now, and although I do not see that such people as these can do you any
harm, it is always well not to make enemies, especially in times like
these when no one can foresee exactly what may occur."

And so Dinah Moore became an inmate of the Orangery; and though the
girls had laughed at their brother, they were very kind to her when she
arrived with Dan, and made much of her and of her baby. The same night
Dan went over to the Cedars, and managed to have an interview with Tony,
and to tell him that his wife had been bought by Vincent. The joy of the
negro was extreme. The previous message had raised his hopes that
Vincent would succeed in getting her bought by someone who would be kind
to her, but he knew well that she might nevertheless fall to the lot of
some higher bidder and be taken hundreds of miles away, and that he
might never again get news of her whereabouts. He had then suffered
terrible anxiety all day, and the relief of learning that Vincent
himself had bought her, and that she was now installed as a house
servant at the Orangery, but a few miles away, was quite overpowering,
and for some minutes he could only gasp out his joy and thankfulness. He
could hope now that when better times came he might be able to steal
away some night and meet her, and that some day or other, though how he
could not see, they might be reunited. The Jacksons remained in
ignorance that their former slave was located so near to them.