ssis
Lilly! how's you all git along down dar?" At the same moment the
opening to the street was darkened by Peter's bulky form as he descended
the narrow stair.
Shaking hands with Hester, who rose eagerly to greet him, the negro was
about to begin an earnest talk with her as to how she should act in
regard to her father if she should again meet him, when a voice was
heard that sent a deadly chill alike to the hearts of Hester and the
negro.
"Is the cellar far from this?" asked the voice, which was that of Osman.
"No; here it is! Guard your feet; the second step is broken, and the
place is rather dark," replied the owner of the house.
"Osman!" whispered Peter, glaring and clenching his fists in an agony of
uncertainty how to act.
Mrs Lilly, however, black-woman-like, rose to the occasion.
"Go down dar, you black wretch!" she cried, thrusting Hester quickly
down into the coffee-hole; "how you s'pose massa git his dollars if you
not work? Go to work, or I'll skin you!"
Truly those negroes, male and female, seemed to possess most effective
capacity for, and original methods of, coming to the rescue of their
friends in moments of danger!
As Mrs Lilly uttered the last words the two visitors stood in the
cellar. At the same instant the thud of the great pestle began, and so
intelligently did Hester perform her part that the familiar gasp of
Sally--admirably imitated--came up with every blow.
"What, Peter the Great! You here!" cried Osman, in extreme surprise.
"Yes, massa, I's here on a little bit ob business wid Missis Lilly.
She's a fri'nd ob my sister Dinah," answered Peter humbly.
"Oh, indeed! With my father's permission, I suppose?"
"Yes, Massa Osman. I neber dar to come in de town widout your fadder's
purmission."
Osman turned and addressed a few words in an undertone to the master of
the house, who thereupon turned to Mrs Lilly.
"You are a wise woman, Lilly," he said, "so I have come to consult you.
It seems that one of the slaves belonging to Ben-Ahmed of Mustapha has
made her escape, and it is rumoured that she has taken refuge with some
one in this very street, or in one not far from it. Now, as you are
well acquainted with almost every one in the neighbourhood, I thought it
best to come in the first place to you to ask your advice about the
matter."
The gasp that came from the coffee-hole when this speech was made had
something very real in it, and immediately afterwards the
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