She knew of other men who had been slaveholders but, becoming convinced that it was wrong, had freed their slaves and joined the anti-slavery ranks. Some, even, worked with the Underground Railroad. What a splendid thing it would be if she could win him over to the side of liberty! For such a result, she told herself, she would be willing to crucify her conscience for a little while and be a part of the thing she abhorred. She slept that night with a smile on her face and when she wakened in the morning her first consciousness was of an unusual lightness and happiness in her heart. Then she remembered, and flushed to her brows. “But it was all true,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to send it, and I’m sure I didn’t. But I--almost--wish I had.” CHAPTER XVII When Jefferson Delavan received the mail containing the three letters from Hillside his lover’s eye saw at once the envelope bearing the handwriting of Rhoda Ware. Everything else was pushed aside and this was hastily torn open. He turned the sheets over and swept them with a hungry look, as though he would devour all their contents at one glance. And so it happened that before he had read another line his eyes fell upon the page on which she had poured out her heart, which she thought she had burned--but almost wished she had not. He had to read it twice before he could believe that his eyes were not playing him some trick. Then he sprang up joyously, with a great light in his face, and ordered his horse. The rest of his mail, even to Rhoda’s letter, was thrust into his pocket, while he made ready for immediate journey. Slaves went scurrying hither and thither, urged to unaccustomed speed by their master’s impetuous commands, and in less than half an hour he was in his saddle. He struck across the country on the turnpike road straight for the Kentucky shore of the Ohio river opposite Hillside. Quicker time might have been possible by the more roundabout route by railroad to Cincinnati, but his only thought was that thus he was headed directly toward the white house on the hill.