The ladies from the adjoining rooms rushed in to her assistance, and were soon busy chafing her hands, rubbing her feet, and bathing her temples.
"Isn't this terrible!" ejaculated one.
"What is the matter?" cried another.
"Poor creature, she is hysterical," was the explanation of a third.
I endeavored to explain the cause of Miss Jane's excitement.
"You did right," said one lady, whose truly womanly spirit burst through all conventionality and restraint.
"What," said one, a genuine Southern conservative, "do you say it was right for a slave to oppose and resist the punishment which her master had directed?"
"Certainly not; but it was right for a female, no matter whether white or black, to resist, even to the shedding of blood, the lascivious advances of a bold libertine."
"Do you believe the girl's story?"
"Yes; why not?"