[Clotelle by William Wells Brown]@TWC D-Link bookClotelle CHAPTER XXXIV 6/6
One night last winter, after having flogged one of her slaves nearly to death, she returned to her room, and by some means the bedding took fire, and the house was in flames before any one was awakened. There was no one in the building at the time but the old woman and the slaves, and although the latter might have saved their mistress, they made no attempt to do so.
Thus, after a frightful career of many years, this hard-hearted woman died a most miserable death, unlamented by a single person." Clotelle wiped the tears from her eyes, as her father finished this story, for, although Mrs.Miller had been her greatest enemy, she regretted to learn that her end had been such a sad one. "My peace of mind destroyed," resumed the father, "and broken down in health, my physician advised me to travel, with the hope of recruiting myself, and I sailed from New York two months ago." Being brought up in America, and having all the prejudice against color which characterizes his white fellow-countrymen, Mr.Linwood very much regretted that his daughter, although herself tinctured with African blood, should have married a black man, and he did not fail to express to her his dislike of her husband's complexion. "I married him," said Clotelle, "because I loved him.
Why should the white man be esteemed as better than the black? I find no difference in men on account of their complexion.
One of the cardinal principles of Christianity and freedom is the equality and brotherhood of man." Every day Mr.Linwood became more and more familiar with Jerome, and eventually they were on the most intimate terms. Fifteen days from the time that Clotelle was introduced into her father's room, they left Ferney for Geneva.
Many were the excursions Clotelle made under the shadows of Mont Blanc, and with her husband and father for companions; she was now in the enjoyment of pleasures hitherto unknown..
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