Page:Incidents in the life of a slave girl.djvu/68

62 had said, and to whom I had said it. Finally, he asked, "Do you know what you have said?" "Yes, sir; but your treatment drove me to it." "Do you know that I have a right to do as I like with you,—that I can kill you, if I please?" "You have tried to kill me, and I wish you had; but you have no right to do as you like with me." "Silence!" he exclaimed, in a thundering voice.

"By heavens, girl, you forget yourself too far! Are you mad? If you are, I will soon bring you to your senses. Do you think any other master would bear what I have borne from you this morning? Many masters would have killed you on the spot. How would you like to be sent to jail for your insolence?" "I know I have been disrespectful, sir," I replied; "but you drove me to it; I couldn't help it. As for the jail, there would be more peace for me there than there is here." "You deserve to go there," said he, "and to be under such treatment, that you would forget the meaning of the word peace. It would do you good. It would take some of your high notions out of you. But I am not ready to send you there yet, notwithstanding your ingratitude for all my kindness and forbearance. You have been the plague of my life. I have wanted to make you happy, and I have been repaid with the basest ingratitude; but though you have proved yourself incapable of appreciating my kindness, I will be lenient towards you, Linda. I will give you one more chance to redeem your character. If you behave yourself and do as I require, I will forgive you and treat you as I always have done; but if you