in her capture, and threatening punishment for her flight.
For a moment she looked wildly and anxiously around to see
if there was no hope of escape. On either hand, far down below,
rolled the deep, foaming waters of the Potomac, and before and behind
were the rapidly approaching steps and noisy voices of her pursuers.
Seeing how vain would be any further effort to escape, her resolution
was instantly taken. She clasped her hands convulsively together,
raised her tearful and imploring eyes toward heaven, and begged
for the mercy and compassion there which was unjustly denied her
on earth; then, exclaiming, "Henry, Clotelle, I die for thee!"
with a single bound, vaulted over the railing of the bridge,
and sank forever beneath the angry and foaming waters of the river!

Such was the life, and such the death, of a woman whose virtues
and goodness of heart would have done honor to one in a higher
station of life, and who, had she been born in any other land
but that of slavery, would have been respected and beloved.
What would have been her feelings if she could have known
that the child for whose rescue she had sacrificed herself
would one day be free, honored, and loved in another land?




CHAPTER XVII

CLOTELLE


THE curtain rises seven years after the death of Isabella.