"And not the hope of heaven!"
"No, no, missus, not dat either, bress His holy name!"
"It is a world of trial, Aunt Chloe, but He never sends one that is na needful for us; and 'when His people cannot have a providence of silk and roses, they must be content with such an one as he carveth out for them.' 'How soon would grace freeze without a cross!'"
"Dat true, missus; an' we mus' take de cross first or we can't hab de crown at de las'," she assented with a heavy sigh. "Missus, do you know what gwine be done now? will dey sell de plantation?"
"Oh, no! it belongs to the bairn."
"De servants?"
"I don't think there is any danger o' that either; for they, too, are hers."
Aunt Chloe breathed more freely. "Will Massa Dinsmore come an' lib heyah hisself?" she asked.
"That I canna tell," Mrs. Murray said, shaking her head and sighing slightly. "But, Aunt Chloe, I dinna think ye need fear bein' parted frae the bairn. They may take her frae me, but they'll no be likely to separate her from her mammy; wherever she goes you will, in a' probability, go also."
Chloe asked if Elsie was to be taken away from Viamede; to which the housekeeper answered that she did not know; indeed, nothing could be known till Mr. Dinsmore came.