Page:Contending Forces by Pauline Hopkins.djvu/28

 “Still determined to leave us, Charles?” inquired one.

“Yes, for the good of myself and family. How can we submit tamely to the loss of our patrimonies without an effort to reimburse ourselves when a friendly land invites us to share its hospitality?”

“There is truth in your argument for all who, like you, Charles, have a large venture in slaves. Thank heaven I am so poor that a change of laws will not affect me,” said one.

“Where a man’s treasure is, there also is his heart. It is nature. Almost you persuade me, Charles, to do likewise,” remarked another.

“As I have told you, I will retain my patrimony and free my slaves, too, by this venture in the United States under a more liberal government than ours.”

“Ah! Charles,” remarked another listener, “you forget the real difference between our government and that of the United States. And then the social laws are so different. You will never be able to accustom yourself to the habits of a republic. Do you not remember the planters from Georgia and Carolina who fought for good King George, and were stanch Royalists? They retired to the Bahamas when our cause was lost in the American colonies. My brother has just returned from a trip there. He