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Show 276 UNCLE TOM'.::! CAlliN: OH1 CHAP'J'ER XLI. TUE YOUNG MASTEn. Two days after, a young man drove a light wagon up through the avenue of china-trees, and, throwing the reins hastily on the horses' neck, sprang out and inquired for the owner of the place. It was George Shelby ; and, to show how he came to bo there, we must go back in our story. The Jetter of Miss Ophelia to Mrs. Shelby had, by some unfortunate accident, been detained, for a month or two, at some remote post-office, before it reached its destination; and, of course, bofore it was received, Tom was already lost to view among the distant swamps of the Red river. Mrs. Shelby read the intelligence with the deepest concern; but any immediate action upon it was an impossibility. She was then in attendance on the sick-bed of her husband, who lay delirious in the crisis of a fever. Master George Shelby, who, in the interval, had changed from a boy to a tall young man, was her constant and faithful assistant, and her only reliance in superintending his father's affairs. Miss Ophelia had taken the precaution to send them the name of the lawyer who did business for the St. Clares; and the most that, in the emergency, could bo done, was to address a letter of inquiry to him. Tho sudden death of Mr. Shelby, a few days after, brought, of course, an absorbing pressure of other interests, for a season. LIFE AMONG TilE LOWLY. 277 Mr. Shelby showed his confidence in his wife's abil ity, by appointing her sole executrix upon his estates ; and thus immediately a brgc and complicated amount of business was brought upon her hands. Mrs. Shelby, with characteristic energy, applied herself to the work of straightening the entangled web of affairs; and she and George were for some time occupied with collecting and examining accounts, selling property and settling debts ; for Mrs. Shelby was determined that everything should be brought into tangible and recognizable shnpo, let the consequences to her prove what they might. In the mean time, they received a Jetter from the lawyer to whom Miss Ophelia had referred them, saying that he knew nothing of the matter; that the man wns sold at a public auction, and that, beyond receiving the money, he knew nothing of the affair. Neither George nor Mrs. Shelby could bo easy at this result; nnd, accordingly, some six months after, the latter, having business for his mother, down the river, resolved to visit N cw Orleans, in person, and push his inquiries, in hopes of discovering Tom's whereabouts, and restoring him. After some months of unsuccessful search, by the merest accident, George fell in with a man, in New Orleans, who h~ppcned to bo possessed of the desired information ; and with his money in his pocket, our hero took steamboat for Red river, resolving to find out and re-purchase his old friend. He was soon introduced into the house, where he found Legree in the sitting-room. Legree received the stranger with a kind of surly hospitality. " I understand," said the young man, " that you bought, in New Orleans, a bey, named Tom. He used to be on my VOl •. Jl. 24 |