The railroad line of
communication was maintained, and upon it drifted away Mr. Baron's
former slaves and the great majority of the others in the
neighborhood. The region in which the plantation was situated was so
remote and sparsely settled that it was a sort of border land,
unclaimed and unvisited by any considerable bodies from either
party. Rev. Dr. Williams' congregation had shrunken to a handful. He
officiated at one end of the church, and his plump, black-eyed
daughter led the singing at the other, but it was observed that she
looked discontented rather than devotional. She was keenly alive to
the fact that there was not an eligible man left in the parish.
Uncle Lusthah patiently drove the mules every clear Sunday morning
and Mr. and Mrs. Baron sat in the carriage whose springs Aun' Suke
had sorely tried; but Miss Lou would not go with them. After his
readiness to marry her to her cousin she felt it would be worse than
mockery to listen to Dr. Williams again.
But a deep, yet morbid spiritual change was taking place in the
girl.
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