packing those poor creatures so that they couldn’t move nor breathe!—­why, I declare, every time I turned over and stretched in bed, I thought of it;—­and says I, ’Miss Wilcox, I do believe that the judgments of God will come down on us, if something a’n’t done, and I shall always stand by the Doctor,’ says I;—­and, if you’ll believe me, just then I turned round and saw the General; and the General, he just haw-hawed right out, and says he, ‘Good for you, Miss Prissy! that’s real grit,’ says he, ’and I like you better for it.’—­Laws,” added Miss Prissy, reflectively, “I sha’n’t lose by it, for Miss Wilcox knows she never can get anybody to do the work for her that I will.”

“Do you think,” said Mary, “that there are a great many made angry?”

“Why, bless your heart, child, haven’t you heard?—­Why, there never was such a talk in all Newport.  Why, you know Mr. Simeon Brown is gone clear off to Dr. Stiles; and Miss Brown, I was making up her plum-colored satin o’ Monday, and you ought to ‘a’ heard her talk.  But, I tell you, I fought her.  She used to talk to me,” said Miss Prissy, sinking her voice to a mysterious whisper, “’cause I never could come to it to say that I was willin’ to be lost, if it was for the glory of God; and she always told me folks could just bring their minds right up to anything they knew they must; and I just got the tables turned on her, for they talked and abused the Doctor till they fairly wore me out, and says I, ’Well, Miss Brown, I’ll give in, that you and Mr. Brown do act up to your principles; you certainly act as if you were willing to be damned’;—­and so do all those folks who will live on the blood and groans of the poor Africans, as the Doctor said; and I should think, by the way Newport people are making their money, that they were all pretty willing to go that way,—­though, whether it’s for the glory of God, or not, I’m doubting.—­But you see, Mary,” said Miss Prissy, sinking her voice again to a solemn whisper, “I never was clear on that point; it always did seem to me a dreadful high place to come to, and it didn’t seem to be given to me; but I thought, perhaps, if it was necessary, it would be given, you know,—­for the Lord always has been so good to me that I’ve faith to believe that, and so I just say, ’The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want’";—­and Miss Prissy hastily whisked a little drop out of her blue eye with her handkerchief.

At this moment, Mrs. Scudder came into the boudoir with a face expressive of some anxiety.

“I suppose Miss Prissy has told you,” she said, “the news about the Browns.  That’ll make a great falling off in the Doctor’s salary; and I feel for him, because I know it will come hard to him not to be able to help and do, especially for these poor negroes, just when he will.  But then we must put everything on the most economical scale we can, and just try, all of us, to make it up to him.  I was speaking to Cousin Zebedee about it, when he was down here, on Monday, and he is all clear;—­he has made out free papers for Candace and Cato and Dinah, and they couldn’t, one of ’em, be hired to leave him; and he says, from what he’s seen already, he has no doubt but they’ll do enough more to pay for their wages.”