"What is your name?" he demanded.
Sylvia looked at him resentfully. "How dare you grab me like this?" she
demanded. "Let me go."
The man released his grasp instantly. No darky girl or slave would have
spoken like that. He vanished as suddenly as he had appeared, more
frightened now than Sylvia herself.
For an instant Sylvia stood quite still. She felt ready to cry, and now
walked more slowly. For the first time she realized something of what it
must be to be a colored girl.
"If I had been Estralla he could have dragged me off and had me
whipped," she thought. "Oh, I must get Mr. Robert Waite to let Estralla
stay safe with us."
She was now near her destination, which proved to be a large house right
on the street. She knocked at the door several times before it was
opened. Then she found herself looking up at a tall man whose white hair
and kindly smile gave her confidence.
"Well, little girl, whom do you wish to see?" he asked pleasantly.
"I have a message, I--" began Sylvia, her voice trembling a little. "Are
you Mr. Doane?"
"Yes; come in," and he held the door open for her to enter, and then
closed and fastened it behind them.
Sylvia drew the letter from its hiding-place and handed it to him, and
Mr. Doane slipped it into his pocket.
"Come in, my child, and rest a moment; you are out of breath," he said,
leading the way to a small room at the end of the narrow hall.
Sylvia was glad to sit down in a low chair near the table, while Mr.
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