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'
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' 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.
II
Deacon Thomas Wales' 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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