CHAPTER IX.
LINDY'S BOLDNESS—A SUSPICION—THE MASTER'S ACCOUNTABILITY—THE YOUNG REFORMER—WORDS OF HOPE—THE CULTIVATED MULATTO—THE DAWN OF AMBITION.
In about an hour Lindy came in, looking very much excited, yet attempting to conceal it beneath the mask of calmness. I affected not to notice it, yet was it evident, from various little attentions and manifold kind words, that she sought to divert suspicion, and avoid all questioning as to her absence.
"Where," she asked me, "are the young ladies? have they company?"
"Yes," I replied, "Miss Bradly is with them, and they are expecting a young gentleman, an acquaintance of Miss B.'s."
"Who is he?"
"Why, Lindy, how should I know?"
"I thought maybe you hearn his name."
"No, I did not, and, even if I had, it would have been so unimportant to me that I should have forgotten it."
She opened her eyes with a vacant stare, but it was perceptible that she wandered in thought.