ardize her liberty in such a manner;
but Isabella had made up her mind to rescue her child if possible.

Taking a boat for Wheeling, Isabella was soon on her way to her native
State. Several months had elapsed since she left Richmond, and all her
thoughts were centred on the fate of her dear Clotelle. It was with a
palpitating heart that this injured woman entered the stage-coach at
Wheeling and set out for Richmond.

CHAPTER XV. THE ARREST

IT was late in the evening when the coach arrived at Richmond, and
Isabella once more alighted in her native city. She had intended to seek
lodgings somewhere in the outskirts of the town, but the lateness of the
hour compelled her to stop at one of the principal hotels for the
night. She had scarcely entered the inn before she recognized among the
numerous black servants one to whom she was well known, and her only
hope was that her disguise would keep her from being discovered. The
imperturbable calm and entire forgetfulness of self which induced
Isabella to visit a place from which she could scarcely hope to
escape, to attempt the rescue of a beloved child, demonstrate that
over-willingness of woman to carry out the promptings of the finer
feelings of the heart. True to woman's nature, she had risked her own
liberty for another's. She remained in the hotel during the night, and
the next morning, under the plea of illness, took her breakfast alone.

That day the fugitive slave paid a visit to the suburbs of the town, and
once more beheld the cottage in which she had spent so many happy hours.
It was winter, and the clematis and passion-flower were not there; but
there were the same walks her feet had so often pressed, and the same
trees which had so often shaded her as she passed through the garden
at the back of the house. Old remembrances rushed upon her memory and
caused her to shed tears freely. Isabella was now in her native town,
and near her daughter; but how could she communicate with her? how could
she see her? To have made herself known would have been a suicidal act;
betrayal would have followed, and she arrested. Three days passed away,
and still she remained in the hotel at which she had first put up, and
yet she got no tidings of her child.

Unfortunately for Isabella, a disturbance had just broken out among
the slave population in the State of Virginia, and all strangers were
treated with suspicion.

The insurrection to which we now refer was headed by