His Other Wife: A Novel — page 302: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

294 MISTRESS AND MAID. fondle or caress a white child, or if a master or mistress saluted.a slave with a cordial grasp of the hand in meeting or parting, after or before a long separation. These affectionate manifestations were common among the valued and privileged members of the household retinue toward their owners. Mrs. Morgan's strong attach- ment to Roxana was the more remarkable because of her dislike of having the negro servants about her, and her profound mistrust of them caused her to substitute white servants whenever she came to reside for the winter at Lucerne. Roxana was the only exception to this rule, and she deserved to be; for such was her devotion to the child and the mother, that the slave elected, or her own choice, to leave her family and go with Mrs. Morgan as nurse to the little Leda, no matter for what length of time the separation from her own people lasted. It was not, therefore, surprising that Roxana came to enjoy more of her mistress’ confidence than any other person; and it was to this faithful heart that Mrs. Morgan, in dying, commended her daughter with the most solemn ad- monitions. Her last intelligible words to Roxana were: ‘‘Remember, you will account to me, at the final day, for your love and devotion to my child, who will have, in this wide world, no other disinterested affection but yours.” When Leda informed Roxana of her intended union with Mathew Croft, the slave had lifted up her. voice against it with the solemnity of a Hebrew prophetess, Eomicbooks.com