"O, Missis! dear Missis! don't think me ungrateful,--don't think hard of
me, any way,--I heard all you and master said tonight. I am going to try
to save my boy--you will not blame me! God bless and reward you for all
your kindness!"

Hastily folding and directing this, she went to a drawer and made up
a little package of clothing for her boy, which she tied with a
handkerchief firmly round her waist; and, so fond is a mother's
remembrance, that, even in the terrors of that hour, she did not forget
to put in the little package one or two of his favorite toys, reserving
a gayly painted parrot to amuse him, when she should be called on to
awaken him. It was some trouble to arouse the little sleeper; but, after
some effort, he sat up, and was playing with his bird, while his mother
was putting on her bonnet and shawl.

"Where are you going, mother?" said he, as she drew near the bed, with
his little coat and cap.

His mother drew near, and looked so earnestly into his eyes, that he at
once divined that something unusual was the matter.

"Hush, Harry," she said; "mustn't speak loud, or they will hear us. A
wicked man was coming to take little Harry away from his mother, and
carry him 'way off in the dark; but mother won't let him--she's going to
put on her little boy's cap and coat, and run off with him, so the ugly
man can't catch him."

Saying these words, she had tied and buttoned on the child's simple
outfit, and, taking him in her arms, she whispered to him to be