she keeps her key, an'
I kin go to bed myself if you say so, an' you kin lock de do' inside,
an' lay de key back undernefe her pillow: you see dar's a bolt outside,
too, honey, an' I means to draw dat after me, as ole Caleb always does
ob nights wen he goes to bed."

Chuckling low at the manifest disappointment in my face, she
disappeared, to return almost instantly.

"I thought she must be possumin'," she said, "but I know she is as fas'
asleep now as de bar' in de hollow ob a tree in cole wedder, for she
made no 'sistance like wen I grabbed de key from undernefe her head, an'
here it is, chile, an' ef you wants to try your 'speriment you kin, but
I spec you'd better wait a spell," and she looked cunningly at me;
"dere's traps everywhar in dese woods!"

It occurred to me as well that Mrs. Clayton might be feigning slumber,
having penetrated my design of lulling and soothing her fitful spirit to
rest; and feeling, as I did, an utter want of confidence in Sabra, not
only as free agent but as watched attendant, I determined as far as in
me lay to disarm suspicion by duplicity. So I lifted up my voice in
testimony of deceit, and declared my weariness of bondage to be such
that I had determined to embrace Mr. Bainrothe's conditions, and that in
a few days I should be free again without assistance.

"So take the key, Dinah," I said, after observing it closely, and
perceiving that it was several sizes larger than that I had made, as
clumsy as that was, and, therefore, could be of no use to me. "Let
yourself out, and bolt the door behind you, and Mrs. Clayton shall see
that I will take no mean advantage of her slumbers."

This arrangement having been carried with speedy effect, I returned to
my own chamber after a close scrutiny of Mrs. Clayton's condition, and
employed myself at, once in running my penknife around the door
concealed by my bed-head, and thus loosening the paper, pasted on cotton
cloth, that covered it, from that of the wall, with which it was
connected so intimately as to make the whole surface within the chamber
seem to form one partition.

Long before this I had cut that which surrounded the lock, so that it
lay like a flap over it, fastened down lightly, however, with gum-arabic
(part of Ernie's draught for a catarrh), so as to baffle slight
inspection. My heart beat wildly as, after having effected this
preliminary step, I cautiously unlocked the door, which, for aught I
knew, might be, like that o