and all her thoughts were centred on the fate of her dear Clotelle.
It was with a palpitating heart that this injured woman entered
the stage-coach at Wheeling and set out for Richmond.




CHAPTER XV

THE ARREST


IT was late in the evening when the coach arrived at Richmond, and Isabella
once more alighted in her native city. She had intended to seek lodgings
somewhere in the outskirts of the town, but the lateness of the hour
compelled her to stop at one of the principal hotels for the night.
She had scarcely entered the inn before she recognized among
the numerous black servants one to whom she was well known, and her
only hope was that her disguise would keep her from being discovered.
The imperturbable calm and entire forgetfulness of self which induced
Isabella to visit a place from which she could scarcely hope to escape,
to attempt the rescue of a beloved child, demonstrate that over-willingness
of woman to carry out the promptings of the finer feelings of the heart.
True to woman's nature, she had risked her own liberty for another's.
She remained in the hotel during the night, and the next morning,
under the plea of illness, took her breakfast alone.

That day the fugitive slave paid a visit to the suburbs of the town, and
once more beheld the cottage in which she had spent so many happy hours.
It was winter, and the clematis and passion-flower were not there;