?I should feel just like it, mamma,? said Eva, ?because then it would be handier to take care of her, and because, you know, my bed is better than hers Marie was in utter despair at the entire want of moral perception evinced in this reply ?What can I do to make this child understand me?? she said ?Nothing,? said Miss Ophelia, significantly Eva looked sorry and disconcerted for a moment; but children, luckily, do not keep to one impression long, and in a few moments she was merrily laughing at various things which she saw from the coach-windows, as it rattled along * * * * * * ?Well, ladies,? said StClare, as they were comfortably seated at the dinner-table, ?and what was the bill of fare at church today?? ?O, DrG??preached a splendid sermon,? said Marie?It was just such a sermon as you ought to hear; it expressed all my views exactly ?It must have been very improving,? said St?The subject must have been an extensive one ?Well, I mean all my views about society, and such things,? said Marie?The text was, ?He hath made everything beautiful in its season;? and he showed how all the orders and distinctions in society came from God; and that it was so appropriate, you know, and beautiful, that some should be high and some low, and that some were born to rule and some to serve, and all that, you know; and he applied it so well to all this ridiculous fuss that is made about slavery, and he proved distinctly that the Bible was on our side, and supported all our institutions so convincinglyI only wish you?d heard him ?O, I didn?t need it,? said St?I can learn what does me as much good as that from the Picayune, any time, and smoke a cigar besides; which I can?t do, you know, in a church ?Why,? said Miss Ophelia, ?don?t you believe in these views?? ?Who,?I? You know I?m such a graceless dog that these religious aspects of such subjects don?t edify me muchIf I was to say anything on this slavery matter, I would say out, fair and square, ?We?re in for it; we?ve got ?em, and mean to keep ?em,?it?s for our convenience and our interest;? for that?s the long and short of it,?that?s just the whole of what all this sanctified stuff amounts to, after all; and I think that it will be intelligible to everybody, everywhere ?I do think, Augustine, you are so irreverent!? said Marie?I think it?s shocking to hear you talk ?Shocking! it?s the truthThis religious talk on such matters,?why don?t they carry it a little further, and show the beauty, in its season, of a fellow?s taking a glass too much, and sitting a little too late over his cards, and various providential arrangements of that sort, which are pretty frequent among us young men;?we?d like to hear that those are right and godly, too ?Well,? said Miss Ophelia, ?do you think slavery right or wrong?? I?m not going to have any of your horrid New England directness, cousin,? said St?If I answer that question, I know you?ll be at me with half a dozen others, each one harder than the last; and I?m not a going to define my positionI am one of the sort that lives by throwing stones at other people?s glass houses, but I never mean to put up one for them to stone ?That?s just the way he?s always talking,? said Marie; ?you can?t get any satisfaction out of himI believe it?s just because he don?t like religion, that he?s always running out in this way he?s been doing ?Religion!? said StClare, in a tone that made both ladies look at him?Religion! Is what you hear at church, religion? Is that which can bend and turn, and descend and ascend, to fit every crooked phase of selfish, worldly society, religion? Is that religion which is less scrupulous, less generous, less just, less considerate for man, than even my own ungodly, worldly, blinded nature? No! When I look for a religion, I must look for something above me, and not something beneath ?Then you don?t believe that the Bible justifies slavery,? said Miss Ophelia ?The Bible was my mother?s book,? said St?By it she lived and died, and I would be very sorry to think it didI?d as soon desire to have it proved that my mother could drink brandy, chew tobacco, and swear, by way of satisfying me that I did right in doing the sameIt wouldn?t make me at all more satisfied with these things in myself, and it would take from me the comfort of respecting her; and it really is a comfort, in this world, to have anything one can respectIn short, you see,? said he, suddenly resuming his gay tone, ?all I want is that different things be kept in different boxesThe whole frame-work of society, both in Europe and America, is made up of various things which will not stand the scrutiny of any very ideal standard of moralityIt?s pretty generally understood that men don?t aspire after the absolute right, but only to do about as well as the rest of the worldNow, when any one speaks up, like a man, and says slavery is necessary to us, we can?t get along without it, we should be beggared if we give it up, and, of course, we mean to hold on to it,?this is strong, clear, well-defined language; it has the respectability of truth to it; and, if we may judge by their practice, the majority of the world will bear us out in itBut when he begins to put on a long face, and snuffle, and quote Scripture, I incline to think he isn?t much better than he should shop be

The Professor watched me critically"That will do," he said"Already?" I remonstrated"You took a great deal more from Art To which he smiled a sad sort of smile as he replied, "He is her lover, her fianceYou have work, much work to do for her and for others, and the present will suffice When we stopped the operation, he attended to Lucy, whilst I applied digital pressure to my own incisionI laid down, while I waited his leisure to attend to me, for I felt faint and a little sickBy and by he bound up my wound, and sent me downstairs to get a glass of wine for myselfAs I was leaving the room, he came after me, and half whispered "Mind, nothing must be said of thisIf our young lover should turn up unexpected, as before, no word to himIt would at once frighten him and enjealous him, tooSo!" When I came back he looked at me carefully, and then said, "You are not much the worseGo into the room, and lie on your sofa, and rest awhile, then have much breakfast and come here to me I followed out his orders, for I knew how right and wise they wereI had done my part, and now my next duty was to keep up my strengthI felt very weak, and in the weakness lost something of the amazement at what had occurredI fell asleep on the sofa, however, wondering over and over again how Lucy had made such a retrograde movement, and how she could have been drained of so much blood with no sign any where to show for itI think I must have continued my wonder in my dreams, for, sleeping and waking my thoughts always came back to the little punctures in her throat and the ragged, exhausted appearance of their edges, tiny though they were Lucy slept well into the day, and when she woke she was fairly well and strong, though not nearly so much so as the day beforeWhen Van Helsing had seen her, he went out for a walk, leaving me in charge, with strict injunctions that I was not to leave her for a momentI could hear his voice in the hall, asking the way to the nearest telegraph office Lucy chatted with me freely, and seemed quite unconscious that anything had happenedI tried to keep her amused and interestedWhen her mother came up to see her, she did not seem to notice any change whatever, but said to me gratefully, "We owe you so much, DrSeward, for all you have done, but you really must now take care not to overwork yourselfYou are looking pale yourselfYou want a wife to nurse and look after you a bit, that you do!" As she spoke, Lucy turned crimson, though it was only momentarily, for her poor wasted veins could not stand for long an unwonted drain to the headThe reaction came in excessive pallor as she turned imploring eyes on meI smiled and nodded, and laid my finger on my lipsWith a sigh, she sank back amid her pillows Van Helsing returned in a couple of hours, and presently said to me: "Now you go home, and eat much and drink enoughI stay here tonight, and I shall sit up with little miss myselfYou and I must watch the case, and we must have none other to knowDo not fear to think even the most not-improbable In the hall two of the maids came to me, and asked if they or either of them might not sit up with Miss LucyThey implored me to let them, and when I said it was DrVan Helsing's wish that either he or I should sit up, they asked me quite piteously to intercede with the 'foreign gentleman'I was much touched by their shop kindness

Shelby?s walking-stickShe would have spoken to tell her husband her fears, but checked herself ?No, no,?he has enough to bear, poor fellow!? she thought?No, I won?t tell him; besides, it an?t true; Missis never deceives us ?So, Eliza, my girl,? said the husband, mournfully, ?bear up, now; and good-by, for I?m going ?Going, George! Going where?? ?To Canada,? said he, straightening himself up; and when I?m there, I?ll buy you; that?s all the hope that?s left usYou have a kind master, that won?t refuse to sell youI?ll buy you and the boy;?God helping me, I will!? ?O, dreadful! if you should be taken?? ?I won?t be taken, Eliza; I?ll die first! I?ll be free, or I?ll die!? ?You won?t kill yourself!? ?No need of thatThey will kill me, fast enough; they never will get me down the river alive!? ?O, George, for my sake, do be careful! Don?t do anything wicked; don?t lay hands on yourself, or anybody else! You are tempted too much?too much; but don?t?go you must?but go carefully, prudently; pray God to help you ?Well, then, Eliza, hear my planMas?r took it into his head to send me right by here, with a note to MrSymmes, that lives a mile pastI believe he expected I should come here to tell you what I haveIt would please him, if he thought it would aggravate ?Shelby?s folks,? as he calls ?emI?m going home quite resigned, you understand, as if all was overI?ve got some preparations made,?and there are those that will help me; and, in the course of a week or so, I shall be among the missing, some dayPray for me, Eliza; perhaps the good Lord will hear you ?O, pray yourself, George, and go trusting in him; then you won?t do anything wicked ?Well, now, good-by,? said George, holding Eliza?s hands, and gazing into her eyes, without movingThey stood silent; then there were last words, and sobs, and bitter weeping,?such parting as those may make whose hope to meet again is as the spider?s web,?and the husband and wife were parted Chapter 4 An Evening in Uncle Tom?s Cabin The cabin of Uncle Tom was a small log building, close adjoining to ?the house,? as the negro par excellence designates his master?s dwellingIn front it had a neat garden-patch, where, every summer, strawberries, raspberries, and a variety of fruits and vegetables, flourished under careful tendingThe whole front of it was covered by a large scarlet bignonia and a native multiflora rose, which, entwisting and interlacing, left scarce a vestige of the rough logs to be seenHere, also, in summer, various brilliant annuals, such as marigolds, petunias, four-o?clocks, found an indulgent corner in which to unfold their splendors, and were the delight and pride of Aunt Chloe?s heart Let us enter the dwellingThe evening meal at the house is over, and Aunt Chloe, who presided over its preparation as head cook, has left to inferior officers in the kitchen the business of clearing away and washing dishes, and come out into her own snug territories, to ?get her ole man?s supper?; therefore, doubt not that it is her you see by the fire, presiding with anxious interest over certain frizzling items in a stew-pan, and anon with grave consideration lifting the cover of a bake-kettle, from whence steam forth indubitable intimations of ?something good A round, black, shining face is hers, so glossy as to suggest the idea that she might have been washed over with white of eggs, like one of her own tea rusksHer whole plump countenance beams with satisfaction and contentment from under her well-starched checked turban, bearing on it, however, if we must confess it, a little of that tinge of self-consciousness which becomes the first cook of the neighborhood, as Aunt Chloe was universally held and acknowledged to be A cook she certainly was, in the very bone and centre of her soulNot a chicken or turkey or duck in the barn-yard but looked grave when they saw her approaching, and seemed evidently to be reflecting on their latter end; and certain it was that she was always meditating on trussing, stuffing and roasting, to a degree that was calculated to inspire terror in any reflecting fowl livingHer corn-cake, in all its varieties of hoe-cake, dodgers, muffins, and other species too numerous to mention, was a sublime mystery to all less practised compounders; and she would shake her fat sides with honest pride and merriment, as she would narrate the fruitless efforts that one and another of her compeers had made to attain to her elevation The arrival of company at the house, the arranging of dinners and suppers ?in style,? awoke all the energies of her soul; and no sight was more welcome to her than a pile of travelling trunks launched on the verandah, for then she foresaw fresh efforts and fresh triumphs Just at present, however, Aunt Chloe is looking into the bake-pan; in which congenial operation we shall leave her till we finish our picture of the cottage In one corner of it stood a bed, covered neatly with a snowy spread; and by the side of it was a piece of carpeting, of some considerable sizeOn this piece of carpeting Aunt Chloe took her stand, as being decidedly in the upper walks of life; and it and the bed by which it lay, and the whole corner, in fact, were treated with distinguished consideration, and made, so far as possible, sacred from the marauding inroads and desecrations of little folksIn fact, that corner was the drawing-room of the establishmentIn the other corner was a bed of much humbler pretensions, and evidently designed for useThe wall over the fireplace was adorned with some very brilliant scriptural prints, and a portrait of General Washington, drawn and colored in a manner which would certainly have astonished that hero, if ever he happened to meet with its like On a rough bench in the corner, a couple of woolly-headed boys, with glistening black eyes and fat shining cheeks, were busy in superintending the first walking operations of the baby, which, as is usually the case, consisted in getting up on its feet, balancing a moment, and then tumbling down,?each successive failure being violently cheered, as something decidedly clever A table, somewhat rheumatic in its limbs, was drawn out in front of the fire, and covered with a cloth, displaying cups and saucers of a decidedly brilliant pattern, with other symptoms of an approaching shop meal

Now sit still a whileCome with me, friend John, and you shall help me deck the room with my garlic, which is all the way from Haarlem, where my friend Vanderpool raise herb in his glass houses all the yearI had to telegraph yesterday, or they would not have been here We went into the room, taking the flowers with usThe Professor's actions were certainly odd and not to be found in any pharmacopeia that I ever heard ofFirst he fastened up the windows and latched them securelyNext, taking a handful of the flowers, he rubbed them all over the sashes, as though to ensure that every whiff of air that might get in would be laden with the garlic smellThen with the wisp he rubbed all over the jamb of the door, above, below, and at each side, and round the fireplace in the same wayIt all seemed grotesque to me, and presently I said, "Well, Professor, I know you always have a reason for what you do, but this certainly puzzles meIt is well we have no sceptic here, or he would say that you were working some spell to keep out an evil spirit "Perhaps I am!" he answered quietly as he began to make the wreath which Lucy was to wear round her neck We then waited whilst Lucy made her toilet for the night, and when she was in bed he came and himself fixed the wreath of garlic round her neckThe last words he said to her were, "Take care you do not disturb it, and even if the room feel close, do not tonight open the window or the door "I promise," said Lucy"And thank you both a thousand times for all your kindness to me! Oh, what have I done to be blessed with such friends?" As we left the house in my fly, which was waiting, Van Helsing said, "Tonight I can sleep in peace, and sleep I want, two nights of travel, much reading in the day between, and much anxiety on the day to follow, and a night to sit up, without to winkTomorrow in the morning early you call for me, and we come together to see our pretty miss, so much more strong for my 'spell' which I have workHo, ho!" He seemed so confident that I, remembering my own confidence two nights before and with the baneful result, felt awe and vague terrorIt must have been my weakness that made me hesitate to tell it to my friend, but I felt it all the more, like unshed tears CHAPTER 11 LUCY WESTENRA'S DIARY 12 September-How good they all are to meI quite love that dear DrI wonder why he was so anxious about these flowersHe positively frightened me, he was so fierceAnd yet he must have been right, for I feel comfort from them alreadySomehow, I do not dread being alone tonight, and I can go to sleep without fearI shall not mind any flapping outside the windowOh, the terrible struggle that I have had against sleep so often of late, the pain of sleeplessness, or the pain of the fear of sleep, and with such unknown horrors as it has for me! How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads, to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreamsWell, here I am tonight, hoping for sleep, and lying like Ophelia in the play, with 'virgin crants and maiden strewments' I never liked garlic before, but tonight it is delightful! There is peace in its smellI feel sleep coming alreadySEWARD'S DIARY 13 September-Called at the Berkeley and found Van Helsing, as usual, up to timeThe carriage ordered from the hotel was waitingThe Professor took his bag, which he always brings with him now Let all be put down exactlyVan Helsing and I arrived at Hillingham at eight o'clockIt was a lovely morningThe bright sunshine and all the fresh feeling of early autumn seemed like the completion of nature's annual workThe leaves were turning to all kinds of beautiful colours, but had not yet begun to drop from the treesWhen we entered we met shop Mrs

Before the day was through, her basket was filled, crowded down, and piled, and she had several times put largely into Tom?sLong after dusk, the whole weary train, with their baskets on their heads, defiled up to the building appropriated to the storing and weighing the cottonLegree was there, busily conversing with the two drivers ?Dat ar Tom?s gwine to make a powerful deal o? trouble; kept a puttin? into Lucy?s basketOne o? these yer dat will get all der niggers to feelin? bused, if Masir don?t watch him!? said Sambo ?Hey-dey! The black cuss!? said Legree?He?ll have to get a breakin? in, won?t he, boys?? Both negroes grinned a horrid grin, at this intimation ?Ay, ay! Let Mas?r Legree alone, for breakin? in! De debil heself couldn?t beat Mas?r at dat!? said Quimbo ?Wal, boys, the best way is to give him the flogging to do, till he gets over his notionsBreak him in!? ?Lord, Mas?r?ll have hard work to get dat out o? him!? ?It?ll have to come out of him, though!? said Legree, as he rolled his tobacco in his mouth ?Now, dar?s Lucy,?de aggravatinest, ugliest wench on de place!? pursued Sambo ?Take care, Sam; I shall begin to think what?s the reason for your spite agin Lucy ?Well, Mas?r knows she sot herself up agin Mas?r, and wouldn?t have me, when he telled her to ?I?d a flogged her into ?t,? said Legree, spitting, only there?s such a press o? work, it don?t seem wuth a while to upset her jist nowShe?s slender; but these yer slender gals will bear half killin? to get their own way!? ?Wal, Lucy was real aggravatin? and lazy, sulkin? round; wouldn?t do nothin,?and Tom he tuck up for her ?He did, eh! Wal, then, Tom shall have the pleasure of flogging herIt?ll be a good practice for him, and he won?t put it on to the gal like you devils, neither ?Ho, ho! haw! haw! haw!? laughed both the sooty wretches; and the diabolical sounds seemed, in truth, a not unapt expression of the fiendish character which Legree gave them ?Wal, but, Mas?r, Tom and Misse Cassy, and dey among ?em, filled Lucy?s basketI ruther guess der weight ?s in it, Mas?r!? ?I do the weighing!? said Legree, emphatically Both the drivers again laughed their diabolical laugh ?So!? he added, ?Misse Cassy did her day?s work ?She picks like de debil and all his angels!? ?She?s got ?em all in her, I believe!? said Legree; and, growling a brutal oath, he proceeded to the weighing-room Slowly the weary, dispirited creatures, wound their way into the room, and, with crouching reluctance, presented their baskets to be weighed Legree noted on a slate, on the side of which was pasted a list of names, the amount Tom?s basket was weighed and approved; and he looked, with an anxious glance, for the success of the woman he had befriended Tottering with weakness, she came forward, and delivered her basketIt was of full weight, as Legree well perceived; but, affecting anger, he said, ?What, you lazy beast! short again! stand aside, you?ll catch it, pretty soon!? The woman gave a groan of utter despair, and sat down on a board The person who had been called Misse Cassy now came forward, and, with a haughty, negligent air, delivered her basketAs she delivered it, Legree looked in her eyes with a sneering yet inquiring glance She fixed her black eyes steadily on him, her lips moved slightly, and she said something in FrenchWhat it was, no one knew; but Legree?s face became perfectly demoniacal in its expression, as she spoke; he half raised his hand, as if to strike,?a gesture which she regarded with fierce disdain, as she turned and walked away ?And now,? said Legree, ?come here, you TomYou see, I telled ye I didn?t buy ye jest for the common work; I mean to promote ye, and make a driver of ye; and tonight ye may jest as well begin to get yer hand inNow, ye jest take this yer gal and flog her; ye?ve seen enough on?t to know how I beg Mas?r?s pardon,? said Tom; ?hopes Mas?r won?t set me at thatIt?s what I an?t used to,?never did,?and can?t do, no way possible ?Ye?ll larn a pretty smart chance of things ye never did know, before I?ve done with ye!? said Legree, taking up a cowhide, and striking Tom a heavy blow cross the cheek, and following up the infliction by a shower of blows ?There!? he said, as he stopped to rest; ?now, will ye tell me ye can?t do it?? ?Yes, Mas?r,? said Tom, putting up his hand, to wipe the blood, that trickled down his face?I?m willin? to work, night and day, and work while there?s life and breath in me; but this yer thing I can?t feel it right to do;?and, Mas?r, I never shall do it,?never!? Tom had a remarkably smooth, soft voice, and a habitually respectful manner, that had given Legree an idea that he would be cowardly, and easily shop subdued