But the news which he
had heard on his way, had driven all thoughts of reprimand which he
might have entertained, out of his head. He only cared to get the
child safely back.
So not a word spoke Captain French, but rode on in grim and sorrowful
silence, with Ann clinging to him, till he reached her master's door.
Then he set her down with a stern and solemn injunction never to
transgress again, and rode away.
Ann went into the kitchen with a quaking heart. It was empty and
still. Its very emptiness and stillness seemed to reproach her. There
stood the desk--she ran across to it, pulled the indentures from her
pocket, put them in their old place, and shut the lid down. There they
staid till the full and just time of her servitude had expired. She
never disturbed them again.
On account of the grief and confusion incident on Deacon Wales's
death, she escaped with very little censure. She never made an attempt
to run away again. Indeed, she had no wish to, for after Deacon
Wales's death, grandma was lonely and wanted her, and she lived most
of the time with her. And, whether she was in reality treated any more
kindly or not, she was certainly happier.
DEACON THOMAS WALES'S WILL.
In the Name of God Amen! the Thirteenth Day of September One
Thousand Seven Hundred Fifty & eight, I, Thomas Wales of
Braintree, in the County of Suffolk & Province of the
Massachusetts Bay in New England, Gent--being in good health of
Body and of Sound Disproving mind and Memory, Thanks be given to
God--Calling to mind my mortality, Do therefore in my health make
and ordain this my Last Will and Testament.
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