Miller had ordered the overseer of her own farm to
follow her; and, just as Jennings had stepped between the two
women, Mull, the negro-driver, walked into the room.
"Seize that impudent hussy," said Mrs. Miller to the overseer, "and
tie her up this minute, that I may teach her a lesson she won't
forget in a hurry."
As she spoke, the old woman's eyes rolled, her lips quivered, and
she looked like a very fury.
"I will have nothing to do with her, if you whip her, Mrs. Miller,"
said the slave-trader. "Niggers ain't worth half so much in the
market with their backs newly scarred," continued he, as the
overseer commenced his preparations for executing Mrs. Miller's
orders.
Clotelle here took her father's walking-stick, which was lying on
the back of the sofa where he had left it, and, raising it,
said,--
"If you bad people touch my mother, I will strike you."
They looked at the child with astonishment; and her extreme youth,
wonderful beauty, and uncommon courage, seemed for a moment to
shake their purpose. The manner and language of this child were
alike beyond her years, and under other circumstances would have
gained for her the approbation of those present.
"Oh, Henry, Henry!" exclaimed Isabella, wringing her hands.
"You need not call on him, hussy; you will never see him again,"
said Mrs. Miller.
"What! is he dead?" inquired the heart-stricken woman.
It was then that she forgot her own situation, thinking only of the
man she loved.
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