BAFT-BUILDING. 
71 
Just then Bess, catching the look, gave a little miser- 
able wail of distress and cold. 
At that cry, the fierce light that sometimes comes into 
the mild eyes of her race flashed in Chloe's as she 
crouched by the little heap of straw, and glanced ner- 
vously about the room. 
There were only two wooden pieces of furniture that 
had survived the demands of that night ; an old, broken- 
legged stool, which her husband had brought from the 
plantation, and which had always been specially set apart 
for him ; and a small shelf, high up on the opposite wall, 
on which were laid a worn Bible and hymn-book. 
Chloe rose, hesitated a moment, then stepped across the 
room, swiftly reached up, and, taking the two books from 
their resting-place, laid them carefully and reverently 
upon a few wisps of clean straw, in a corner of the hut. 
Next, she gave the shelf a wrench . that brought it down 
with a cloud of dust, and, without pausing, — as if she 
were afraid of repenting, — opened the stove-door and 
thrust in the fragments upon the glowing brands. 
All these proceedings Lex and Bess and the white 
kitten watched with intense interest, and with very dubi- 
ous faces. Bess no longer cried, but had hard work to 
keep her lip from quivering. Kitty put out one dainty 
paw, shook it as if she had dipped it into cold water, 
curled up again in Lex's bosom, and made a brave 
attempt to purr. 
Lex privately thought it might be about time for the 
