You inspire in me such deep solicitude. I
had to tell those poor negroes that they were free. So they would be
if within our lines. But when we are gone that overseer may be
brutal, and the slaves may come again to you for protection. That
cousin of yours may also come again--oh, it puts me in a sort of
rage to think of leaving you so unfriended. You will have to be a
woman in very truth, and a brave, circumspect one, too."
"You are right, sir," she replied with dignity, "and you must also
remember that I will be a Southern woman. I do feel most friendly to
you personally, but not to your cause. Forgive me if I have acted
and spoken too much like a child to-night, and do not misunderstand
me. Circumstances have brought us together in a strange way, and
while I live I shall remember you with respect and gratitude. I can
never lose the friendly interest you have inspired, and I can never
think of the North as I hear others speak of it; but I belong to my
own people, and I should be very unhappy and humiliated if I felt
that I must continue to look to an enemy of my country for
protection.
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