Pity, then, prevailed, even over
religion. I was happy in every point but one--the injury concealment
worked upon her self-respect; for, Clayton, my mistress was my own
cousin."
"Goy!"
"I never desired to marry, although no children had been born in my
patriarchal relation; but, in the course of years, my uncle became
pressed for debts, and he appealed to me to save my beautiful handmaiden
from sale, he being in full sympathy with my relation to her, because
she was his daughter."
"I goy!"
"The case was urgent. I possessed some negroes, the legacy of my mother.
To sell them publicly would be a stigma both upon my humanity and my
credit. I adopted the cowardly device of letting a kidnapper slip them
away, and take a large commission for his trouble. I saved my lady, but
at the expense of a secret."
"And that secret Joe Johnson depended on, Custis, when he was suddenly
driven into your house, and found your old servant already demoralized
by the announcement of your son-in-law?"
"The scoundrel pressed his advantage; and he saw, besides, my
daughter--not Vesta, but her half-sister, Virgie--and, between his
persecution of her and my brother-in-law's vindictiveness, poor Virgie
was literally run to the ground and into it; she is in her grave."
Judge Custis broke into a long fit of sobbing, and Clayton, who had
noticed his dejected mien since their separation, passed an arm around
him, saying:
"Never mind, now! Never mind, old friend! Johnson is fled; McLane, they
whisper, has never been seen since he entered Johnson's tavern.
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