Chapter 40, The Fugitive Slave Law Summary and Analysis

After the failure of the anti-slavery reading room endeavor, William decides to move to California and to take Benny (who evidently has returned from the whaling expedition) with him. Ellen is happy at her boarding school, and Linda is once again alone.

Mr. Bruce is remarried, and he and his second wife have a new infant child. Linda is again offered the position of nursemaid to this family and she gladly takes it, although she feels far less secure in New York than she did in Boston. In New York she is much more likely to be captured and turned over to Dr. Flint.

Linda finds that she likes the second Mrs. Bruce as well as the first. The new Mrs. Bruce, while being an American of an aristocratic upbringing, appears to be...