"I will do the best I can."
"Before I intrust it to you, I must feel that you will not only be discreet, but that you will labor to foil this wicked plot."
"I will do everything I can," replied Uncle Nathan, warmly, for his heart was touched at the wrongs of Emily.
"Then here is the will," said Hatchie, handing him the packet, which he had taken the precaution to envelop in oil-cloth. "Remember how much depends upon your caution and fidelity. God forgive me, if I have done wrong in giving it to you."
"You may depend upon me. I will take good care of the document. But shan't I say anything to the lady about it?"
"Assure her, if you can without exposing yourself, that the will is safe. It will give joy to her heart to know that she has the means of restoration to her home and name."
"I will see everything done about right; and I hope soon to meet you in the land of liberty."
"I shall never leave my mistress. I have been near her from her birth, and, though only a slave, I feel that I was sent into the world for no other purpose than to protect and serve her. Liberty away from her has no charms for me."
"Goodness!" ejaculated Uncle Nathan; "I never should have thought it!"
Hatchie's devotion to his mistress, so eloquently expressed, jostled rather rudely the Northerner's prejudices concerning the treatment of slaves.