His life might be forfeited in the attempt, even
were they without prison walls. No! it is almost hopeless. In the
narrow confines of a securely grated cell, where thoughts and
anxieties waste the soul in disappointment, and where hopes only
come and go to spread time with grief, he could only see her and her
child as they suffered. The spectacle had no charm; and those who
carried them into captivity for the satisfaction of paltry debts
could not be made to divest themselves of the self in nature. Cries
and sobs were nothing,--such were poor stock for "niggers" to have;
pains and anxieties were at a discount, chivalry proclaimed its
rule, and nothing was thought well of that lessened the market value
of body and soul. Among great, generous, hospitable, and chivalrous
men, such things could only be weighed in the common scale of trade.
Again, Maxwell remembered that Marston had unfolded his troubles to
him, and being a mere stranger the confidence warranted mutual
reciprocity. If it were merely an act dictated by the impulse of his
feelings at that moment, the secret was now laid broadly open. He
was father of the children, and, sensible of their critical
situation, the sting was goading him to their rescue. The question
was-would he interpose and declare them as such? Ah, he forgot it
was not the father's assertion,--it was the law. The crime of being
property was inherited from the mother. Acknowledging them his
children would neither satisfy law nor the creditors.
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