Once out upon the highway where there were no mud holes to shun, no gates to open and shut, Hugh broached the subject of Rocket again, when Alice told him unhesitatingly how he could, if he would, pay for him and leave her greatly his debtor. The scrap of paper, which Muggins had saved from the letter thrown by Hugh upon the carpet, had been placed by the queer little child in an old envelope, which she called her letter to Miss Alice. Handing it to her with the utmost gravity she had asked her to read “Mug’s letter,” and Alice had read the brief lines written by ’Lina, “Hugh must send the money, as I told him before. He can sell Mug, Harney likes pretty darkies.” There was a cold, sick feeling at Alice’s heart, a shrinking with horror from ’Lina Worthington, and then she came to a decision. Mug should be hers, and so, as skillfully as she could she brought it round, that having taken a great fancy both to Lulu and Muggins, she wished to buy them both, giving whatever Hugh honestly thought they were worth. Rocket, if he pleased, should be taken as part or whole payment for Mug, and so cease to be a gift. Hugh was confounded. Could Alice know what ’Lina had written? It did not seem possible, and yet she had laid her hand upon the very dilemma which was troubling him so much. If _Ad_ should marry that doctor, she would want money as she had said, and money Hugh could not get unless he sold his negroes. He had said he never would part with them; but selling them to Alice was virtually setting them at liberty, and Hugh felt his own heart throb as he thought of Mug’s delight when told that she was free. A slave master can love his bond servant, and Hugh loved the little Mug so much that the idea of parting with her as he surely must at some future time if he assented to Alice’s plan, made him hesitate, and Alice’s best arguments were called into requisition ere he came to a decision. But he decided at last, influenced not so much by need of money as by knowing how much real good the exchange of ownership would do to the two young girls. In return for Rocket Alice should have Muggins, while for Lulu she might give what she liked. Seven hundred, he had been offered, but he would take less.