tion, that he was still master in his own house, and of his
own servants. But Duncan Lisle knew that life for China at the house was
over. She had been long enough suffering incessant martyrdom under the
heavy sway of the new mistress. Yes, it would be better for her to go
away. He regarded her pityingly; then that emotion was quickly reflected
from her to himself.

"_She_ can go away--_she_ can find happiness elsewhere. O, is there not
somewhere in the wide world a place of beautiful peace?" groaned the
unhappy man to himself, while his eyes wandered involuntarily toward the
white column that gleamed in the sunlight nearly a mile distant. By an
effort the master recovered himself.

"So she has sent you down to be with Bet, and Nan, and Kizzie, and Sam,
Jake, Jim, and all those fellows? You can't live there a month. Would
you like your freedom, China? Would you like to go to Richmond--you
could get plenty of places, either as nurse or seamstress?"

"O, master Duncan, I should die if I had to leave Kennons"--for this
first thought of complete separation from all she had known and loved
was intolerable.

"You can try it then down yonder. I will ride down to-night or
to-morrow, and speak to Mr. Fuller. You can be thinking it over. You
have been a good girl--I owe you something. If you can't stand it
there--and I know you can't--I will give you papers of manumission and
money to take you to Richmond. You have a close mouth--do not speak of
this. Well, keep up heart and God bless you."

The master and servant parted--the one to ride wearily to his unpeaceful
home, the other to journey along more hopefully to the shadeless cabins
in the fields.

CHAPTER XIV.

CHINA--UNCLE MAT'S PRAYER MEETING.

Compared to the field-hands, who were little more than heathen and
barbarian, our favorite China was a princess. One day and night among
them proved to the unhappy girl that her master was in the right--she
could not live with them. If she had met with suspicion, jealousy, and
envy beneath her master's roof, she could not expect to escape it in her
new home, where ignorance and all the baser passions ruled.

Toward night on the following day, which was Saturday, the master
appeared at the cabins. He found China weeping disconsolately in the
shade of a tree. So profoundly was she buried in her grief, she saw not
her master until she heard his voice. For many hours had she watched his
coming. When she had ceased to loo