ted as I was with its streets and people, and I fully determined,
when I found Sabra's avarice excited, to offer her as a reward this
golden treasure, should she first place me in circumstances to gain my
freedom.

"Dey calls you pore, honey," she said softly, "but wen I sees dat bright
gole watch and chain I knows better. Now I reckon dey would bring enough
bright silver dollars at a juglar's shop ty buy my ole man twice over
agin! He is but porely, and our chilluns is all dead and gone, anyway,
all but one, way down in New Orleans, an' ef I could git his free papers
he might come here and jine his wife in freedom, even if Massa Jack
Dillard did heir masta's estate. How much would dat watch and chain be
worth, honey?"

"Two or three hundred dollars, I suppose, I don't know exactly; but
certainly enough to buy your old man at Southerners' value set upon aged
negroes; but whether it be or not--"

An apparition, of which I fortunately caught the reflection in the glass
before me, cut short the promise that hovered on my lips. It was that of
Mrs. Clayton, in her bed-gown and swathed in flannel, peering, peeping,
listening at the door of her chamber, as unlovely a vision, certainly,
as ever broke up an _entretien_ or dissolved a delusion.

I maintained my self-possession, though my agitation was extreme (the
crisis had seemed so favorable!), while she limped forward and accosted
me civilly, with a demand as peremptory as a highwayman's for my watch
and chain, of which I took no notice.

"I should be doing you great injustice in your condition," she added,
coolly, "to let you sell your watch, even to benefit Dinah and her old
man, benevolent as is your motive; so I must take possession of it, or
send for Dr. Englehart to do so, whichever you prefer."

"The watch is there," I said, rising haughtily, with my still unadjusted
hair falling about me. "It was my father's and is precious to me far
beyond its intrinsic value; and I shall hold you accountable for it some
day. Take it at once, though, rather than recall the person before me
with whose presence you menace me. Keep it yourself, however; I would
rather deal with you than the others, false as you have shown yourself
to every promise."

"I wish you would be reasonable," she said, "and do what your friends
ask of you. This confinement is wearing us both out; it will be the
death of me, and you will be to blame."

"The sooner the better," I rejoined, heartlessly.