“Yes, there’s an old slave-woman,—Esha. She has a grudge against the little miss, and isn’t likely to be too indulgent.”
“But why, Carberry, would you take the little miss to Mrs. Gentry’s rather than to your own house? I see! You thought I would be in the way; that I would be jealous of her! Confess!”
“Yes, Josy, I didn’t think anything else.”
“Well, now, let me plan for you: first, I, with Esha, will call on her. Esha can easily persuade her that the best thing she can do will be to come with us to this house. We’ll have the blue room ready for her. It being between two other rooms, and having no other exit than through them, she will not have another chance to abscond. Esha would perhaps be a suitable person to keep guard. But then probably Mrs. Gentry wouldn’t part with Esha.”
“Bah! Gentry will have to do as I order, or see her school broken up as an Abolition concern. Your plan strikes me favorably, Josy; but what if the girl should refuse to accompany you?”
“We can have an officer close by to apply to in case of need.”
“Of course! What a woman you are for plotting!”
“Yes, Carberry, give me carte blanche to act for you, and I’ll have her here before one o’clock. But there’s a condition, Carberry.”
“Name it, Josy.”
“It is, that so long as your present wife lives, you shall keep strictly aloof from the maiden, not even taking the liberty of a kiss. Don’t you see why? She has been religiously brought up. She is pure, with affections disengaged. Would it be for your future interests as a husband to undo all that has been done for her moral education? Surely no! You mean to make her your wife; and the wife of Carberry Ratcliff must be intemerate!”