17. CHAPTER XVII.
CLOTELLE.
The curtain rises seven years after the death of Isabella. During
that interval, Henry, finding that nothing could induce his mother-in-law
to relinquish her hold on poor little Clotelle, and not liking to contend
with one on whom a future fortune depended, gradually lost all
interest in the child, and left her to her fate.
Although Mrs. Miller treated Clotelle with a degree of harshness
scarcely equalled, when applied to one so tender in years, still the child
grew every day more beautiful, and her hair, though kept closely cut,
seemed to have improved in its soft, silk-like appearance. Now twelve
years of age, and more than usually well-developed, her harsh old mistress
began to view her with a jealous eye.
Henry and Gertrude had just returned from Washington, where the
husband had been on his duties as a member of Congress, and where
he had remained during the preceding three years without returning
home. It was on a beautiful evening, just at twilight, while seated at
his parlor window, that Henry saw a young woman pass by and go into
the kitchen. Not aware of ever having seen the person before, he made
[ILLUSTRATION]
[Description: 756EAF. Illustration page. Image of an African-American woman surrounded by a group of Caucasion men on a pier or boardwalk. Some of the men hold whips or guns. The woman has jumped over the railing and is flinging herself into the water below.]
an errand into the cook's department to see who the girl was. He, however,
met her in the hall, as she was about going out.
“Whom did you wish to see?” he inquired.
“Miss Gertrude,” was the reply.
“What did you want to see her for?” he again asked.
“My mistress told me to give her and Master Henry her compliments,
and ask them to come over and spend the evening.”
“Who is your mistress?” he eagerly inquired.
“Mrs. Miller, sir,” responded the girl.
“And what's your name?” asked Henry, with a trembling voice.
“Clotelle, sir,” was the reply.
The astonished father stood completely amazed, looking at the now
womanly form of her who, in his happier days, he had taken on his
knee with so much fondness and alacrity. It was then that he saw his
own and Isabella's features combined in the beautiful face that he was
then beholding. It was then that he was carried back to the days when
with a woman's devotion, poor Isabella hung about his neck and told
him how lonely were the hours in his absence. He could stand it no
longer. Tears rushed to his eyes, and turning upon his heel, he went
back to his own room. It was then that Isabella was revenged; and
she no doubt looked smilingly down from her home in the spirit-land
on the scene below.
On Gertrude's return from her shopping tour, she found Henry in a
melancholy mood, and soon learned its cause. As Gertrude had borne
him no children, it was but natural, that he should now feel his love
centering in Clotelle, and he now intimated to his wife his determination
to remove his daughter from the hands of his mother-in-law.
When this news reached Mrs. Miller, through her daughter, she became
furious with rage, and calling Clotelle into her room, stripped her
shoulders bare and flogged her in the presence of Gertrude.
It was nearly a week after the poor girl had been so severely whipped
and for no cause whatever, that her father learned of the circumstance
through one of the servants. With a degree of boldness unusual for
him, he immediately went to his mother-in-law and demanded his child.
But it was too late,—she was gone. To what place she had been sent
no one could tell, and Mrs. Miller refused to give any information
whatever relative to the girl.
It was then that Linwood felt deepest the evil of the institution under
which he was living; for he knew that his daughter would be exposed
to all the vices prevalent in that part of the country where marriage
is not recognized in connection with that class.
