"Hers," I said, startled.
"Then it is not yours particularly."
"Yes, it is, Dr. Sandford, very particularly."
"How is that?" said he.
I hesitated. I shrank from the whole subject; it was so extremely sore to me.
"I ought to warn you," he went on, "that if you take her further, she may, if she likes, leave you, and claim her freedom. That is the law. If her owner takes her into the free States, she may remain in them if she will, whether he does or not."
I was silent still, for the whole thing choked me. I was quite
willing she should have her freedom, get it any way she could; but there was my father, and his pleasure and interest, which might not choose to lose a piece of his property; and my mother and her interest and pleasure; I knew what both would be. I was dumb.
"You had not thought of this before?" the doctor went on.
"No, sir."