“Let me mention another extraordinary development. Madame Volney does not scruple to resort to all the stratagems justifiable in war to get information from the enemy. Mr. Semmes is an old fox, but not so cunning as to guard against an inspection of his papers by means of duplicate keys. In one of the drawers of the library he deposits his letters. In looking them over the other day, Madame V. found one from Mr. Semmes’s brother in New York, in which the fact is disclosed that this house, hired by Mr. Ratcliff, belonged to Miss Clara’s father, and ought, if the inheritance had not been fraudulently intercepted, to be now her property! Said Miss Clara to me when she learnt the fact, ‘Peek, if I am ever rich, you shall have a nice little cottage overlooking my garden.’ Ah! Mr. Vance, I thought of Naomi, and wondered if she would be living to share the promised fortune. “I have a vague fear of this Mr. Semmes. Under the affectation of great frankness, he seems to me one of those men who make it a rule to suspect everybody. I have warned the women to take heed to their conversation; to remember that walls have ears. I rely much on Esha. She has, thus far, been too deep for him. He has several times tried to throw her off her guard; but has not yet succeeded. He is evidently distrustful and disposed to lay traps for us. “It appears that Mr. Ratcliff’s plan, at the time you intercepted him in his career, and had him sent North, was to offer marriage to this young girl he claims to hold as a slave. Marriage with him would plainly be as hateful to her as any other species of relation; and my present wish is to put her as soon as possible beyond his reach, lest he should any time unexpectedly return. Madame Volney is so confident in her power to save her, that Clara’s anxieties seem to be much allayed; and now that she fully believes she is no slave, but the legitimate child of honorable parents, she cultivates an assurance as to her safety, which I hope is not the precursor of misfortune. The money which Mr. Winslow left in my hands for her use would be sufficient to enable us to carry out some effectual scheme of escape; but Madame Volney does not agree with me as to the importance of an immediate attempt. Will Ratcliff come back? That is the question I now daily ask myself.