e. Full two months elapsed before she
again saw Peter, or heard anything about Ben-Ahmed and her former
friends at Mustapha!

Meanwhile, Dinah having departed, she wisely set herself to make the
most of her new friends.

Mrs Lilly she soon found to be quite as amiable as Dinah had described
her. She and Sally were slaves to the Moor who dwelt in the house which
formed the superstructure of their cellars; but, unlike white slaves,
they were allowed a good deal of personal liberty; first, because there
was no danger of their running away, as they had no place to run to;
second, because their master wanted them to buy and sell vegetables and
other things, in order that he might reap the profit; and, last,
because, being an easy-going man, the said master had no objection to
see slaves happy as long as their happiness did not interfere in any way
with his pleasure.

"Now, Geo'giana," said Mrs Lilly, in the course of their first
conversation, "my massa he neber come down yar, nor trouble his head
about us, as long's I take him a leetle money ebery day, an' nobody else
hab got a right to come, so you's pretty safe if dey don't send de
janissaries to make a sarch--an' if dey do, you know whar to go. I'll
tell massa we make more money if I gits anoder slabe-gal, an' he'll
agree, for he agrees to eberyt'ing ob dat sort! Den he'll forgit all
about it, an' den you an' Sally kin go about town what you like."

"But I fear, Mrs Lilly, that I won't be able to help you to make more
money," objected Hester timidly.

"Oh yes, you will. You'll larn to 'broider de red an' blue slippers.
Das pay well when neatly done, an' I kin see by de shape ob your fingers
you do it neatly. You's hungry now, I darsay, so go to work at your
grub, an' den I'll show you what to do."

Somewhat comforted by the kindly tone and motherly bearing of Mrs
Lilly, Hester went into one of the dark cellar-like rooms of the
interior of her new home, and found it to be a sort of kitchen, which
borrowed its light from the outer room by means of a convenient wall
that was white-washed for the purpose of transmitting it. This
reflector was not an eminent success, but it rendered darkness visible.
At the time we write of, however, the sun having set, the kitchen was
lighted by a smoky oil-lamp of classic form and dimness. Here she found
Sally busy with her evening meal.

Sally was apparently about as little of a human being as was consistent
with the posses