“You’ll take it anyhow; won’t you, Henry?”
“Oh, my dear, be reasonable. Take the leg of a negro for mine!”
“Well, but, Henry, I can paint it white in my picture.”
“Yes; but, Pandora, you know we won’t care to have particles of fractured Africans scattered about our house. We can have no cherished memories associated with a leg like this.”
“I suppose not; but it seems rather hard that my Washington should have to stand upon that one leg at least a month longer.”
“He won’t mind it. He was heroic. He would have stood upon a solitary leg for centuries rather than have robbed another man of his members.”
Pandora sighed deeply, and made up her mind to try to be resigned; and so they went downstairs, and drove away to state the case to Colonel Dabney.
The Colonel, after hearing the story, distinctly affirmed the opinion that there had been foul play. The Major jumped at the suggestion, and told him of General Belcher and Achilles Smith, and their designs respecting Pandora.
“Never mind; I will defeat their plans,” said the Colonel. “You shall have the leg next time, if it is still in existence, no matter who meddles with it.”
The next Act reported by Colonel Dabney provided that Major Henry G. Dunwoody should have authority to take possession of his leg wherever it could be found, in any institution under control of the Government.