Being unacquainted with the Southern code, and no one presuming that Marion had any negro blood in her veins, Dr.Morton had not given the subject a single thought.

The woman whom he loved and regarded as his wife was, after all, nothing more than a slave by the laws of the State.

What would have been his feelings had he known that at his death his wife and children would be considered as his property?
Yet such was the case.

Like most men of means at that time, Dr.Morton was deeply engaged in speculation, and though generally considered wealthy, was very much involved in his business affairs.
After the disease with which Dr.Morton had so suddenly died had to some extent subsided, Mr.James Morton, a brother of the deceased, went to New Orleans to settle up the estate.

On his arrival there, he was pleased with and felt proud of his nieces, and invited them to return with him to Vermont, little dreaming that his brother had married a slave, and that his widow and daughters would be claimed as such.