Three Years in Europe by William Wells Brown

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Mr. Green had scarcely seated himself upon the sofa, when the elderly
gentleman whom he had met the previous evening made his appearance,
followed by the little boy, and introduced himself as Mr. Devenant. A
moment more, and a lady--a beautiful brunette--dressed in black, with
long curls of a chesnut colour hanging down her cheeks, entered the
room. Her eyes were of a dark hazel, and her whole appearance indicated
that she was a native of a southern clime. The door at which she entered
was opposite to where the two gentlemen were seated. They immediately
rose; and Mr. Devenant was in the act of introducing her to Mr. Green,
when he observed that the latter had sunk back upon the sofa, and the
last word that he remembered to have heard was, "It is her." After this,
all was dark and dreamy: how long he remained in this condition it was
for another to tell. When he awoke, he found himself stretched upon the
sofa, with his boots off, his neckerchief removed, shirt collar
unbuttoned, and his head resting upon a pillow. By his side sat the old
man, with the smelling bottle in the one hand, and a glass of water in
the other, and the little boy standing at the foot of the sofa. As soon
as Mr. Green had so far recovered as to be able to speak, he said,
"Where am I, and what does this mean?" "Wait a while," replied the old
man, "and I will tell you all." After the lapse of some ten minutes he
rose from the sofa, adjusted his apparel, and said, "I am now ready to
hear anything you have to say." "You were born in America," said the old
man. "Yes," he replied. "And you were acquainted with a girl named
Mary," continued the old man. "Yes, and I loved her as I can love none
other." "The lady whom you met so mysteriously last evening is Mary,"
replied Mr. Devenant. George Green was silent, but the fountains of
mingled grief and joy stole out from beneath his eye lashes, and
glistened like pearls upon his pale and marble-like cheeks. At this
juncture the lady again entered the room. Mr. Green sprang from the
sofa, and they fell into each other's arms, to the surprise of the old
man and little George, and to the amusement of the servants who had
crept up one by one, and were hid behind the doors or loitering in the
hall. When they had given vent to their feelings, they resumed their
seats and each in turn related the adventures through which they had
passed. "How did you find out my name and address," asked Mr. Green?
"After you had left us in the grave-yard, our little George said, 'O,
mamma, if there aint a book!' and picked it up and brought it to us.
Papa opened it, and said 'the gentleman's name is written in it, and
here is a card of the Hotel de Leon, where I suppose he is stopping.'
Papa wished to leave the book, and said it was all a fancy of mine that
I had ever seen you before, but I was perfectly convinced that you were
my own George Green. Are you married?" "No, I am not." "Then, thank
God!" exclaimed Mrs. Devenant. The old man who had been silent all this
time, said, "Now, Sir, I must apologize for the trouble you were put to
last evening." "And you are single now." "Yes," she replied. "This is
indeed the Lord's doings," said Mr. Green, at the same time bursting
into a flood of tears. Although Mr. Devenant was past the age when men
should think upon matrimonial subjects, yet this scene brought vividly
before his eyes the days when he was a young man, and had a wife living,
and he thought it time to call their attention to dinner, which was
then waiting. We need scarcely add, that Mr. Green and Mrs. Devenant did
very little towards diminishing the dinner that day.

After dinner the lovers (for such we have to call them) gave their
experience from the time that George Green left the gaol, dressed in
Mary's clothes. Up to that time, Mr. Green's was substantially as we
have related it. Mrs. Devenant's was as follows:--"The night after you
left the prison," said she, "I did not shut my eyes in sleep. The next
morning, about 8 o'clock, Peter, the gardener, came to the gaol to see
if I had been there the night before, and was informed that I had, and
that I left a little after dark. About an hour after, Mr. Green came
himself, and I need not say that he was much surprised on finding me
there, dressed in your clothes. This was the first tidings they had of
your escape." "What did Mr. Green say when he found that I had fled?"
"O!" continued Mrs. Devenant, "he said to me when no one was near, I
hope George will get off, but I fear you will have to suffer in his
stead. I told him that if it must be so I was willing to die if you
could live." At this moment George Green burst into tears, threw his
arms around her neck, and exclaimed, "I am glad I have waited so long,
with the hope of meeting you again."

Mrs. Devenant again resumed her story:--"I was kept in gaol three days,
during which time I was visited by the Magistrates and two of the
Judges. On the third day I was taken out, and master told me that I was
liberated, upon condition that I be immediately sent out of the State.
There happened to be just at that time in the neighbourhood a
negro-trader, and he purchased me, and I was taken to New Orleans. On
the steam-boat we were kept in a close room where slaves are usually
confined, so that I saw nothing of the passengers on board or the towns
we passed. We arrived at New Orleans and were all put into the
slave-market for sale. I was examined by many persons, but none seemed
willing to purchase me; as all thought me too white, and said I would
run away and pass as a free white woman. On the second day while in the
slave-market, and while planters and others were examining slaves and
making their purchases, I observed a tall young man with long black hair
eyeing me very closely, and then talking to the trader. I felt sure that
my time had now come, but the day closed without my being sold. I did
not regret this, for I had heard that foreigners made the worst of
masters, and I felt confident that the man who eyed me so closely was
not an American.

"The next day was the Sabbath. The bells called the people to the
different places of worship. Methodists sang, and Baptists immersed, and
Presbyterians sprinkled, and Episcopalians read their prayers, while the
ministers of the various sects preached that Christ died for all; yet
there were some twenty-five or thirty of us poor creatures confined in
the '_Negro Pen_' awaiting the close of the Holy Sabbath, and the dawn
of another day, to be again taken into the market, there to be examined
like so many beasts of burden. I need not tell you with what anxiety we
waited for the advent of another day. On Monday we were again brought
out, and placed in rows to be inspected; and fortunately for me, I was
sold before we had been on the stand an hour. I was purchased by a
gentleman residing in the city, for a waiting-maid for his wife, who was
just on the eve of starting for Mobile, to pay a visit to a near
relation. I was then dressed to suit the situation of a maid-servant;
and, upon the whole, I thought that in my new dress I looked as much the
lady as my mistress.

"On the passage to Mobile, who should I see among the passengers, but
the tall, long-haired man that had eyed me so closely in the
slave-market a few days before. His eyes were again on me, and he
appeared anxious to speak to me, and I as reluctant to be spoken to. The
first evening after leaving New Orleans, soon after twilight had let her
curtain down, and pinned it with a star, and while I was seated on the
deck of the boat, near the ladies' cabin, looking upon the rippled
waves, and the reflection of the moon upon the sea, all at once I saw
the tall young man standing by my side. I immediately rose from my seat,
and was in the act of returning to the cabin, when he in a broken
accent said, 'Stop a moment; I wish to have a word with you. I am your
friend.' I stopped and looked him full in the face, and he said, 'I saw
you some days since in the slave-market, and I intended to have
purchased you to save you from the condition of a slave. I called on
Monday, but you had been sold and had left the market. I inquired and
learned who the purchaser was, and that you had to go to Mobile, so I
resolved to follow you. If you are willing, I will try and buy you from
your present owner, and you shall be free.' Although this was said in an
honest and off-hand manner, I could not believe the man to be sincere in
what he said. 'Why should you wish to set _me_ free?' I asked. 'I had an
only sister,' he replied, 'who died three years ago in France, and you
are so much like her, that had I not known of her death, I would most
certainly have taken you for her.' 'However much I may resemble your
sister, you are aware that I am not her, and why take so much interest
in one whom you never saw before?' 'The love,' said he, 'which I had for
my sister is transferred to you.' I had all along suspected that the
man was a knave, and this profession of love confirmed me in my former
belief, and I turned away and left him.

"The next day, while standing in the cabin and looking through the
window, the French gentleman (for such he was) came to the window while
walking on the guards, and again commenced as on the previous evening.
He took from his pocket a bit of paper and put into my hand, and at the
same time saying, 'Take this, it may some day be of service to you,
remember it is from a friend,' and left me instantly. I unfolded the
paper, and found it to be a 100 dols. bank note, on the United States
Branch Bank, at Philadelphia. My first impulse was to give it to my
mistress, but upon a second thought, I resolved to seek an opportunity,
and to return the hundred dollars to the stranger. Therefore, I looked
for him, but in vain; and had almost given up the idea of seeing him
again, when he passed me on the guards of the boat and walked towards
the stem of the vessel. It being now dark, I approached him and offered
the money to him. He declined, saying at the same time, 'I gave it to
you--keep it.' 'I do not want it,' I said. 'Now,' said he, 'you had
better give your consent for me to purchase you, and you shall go with
me to France.' 'But you cannot buy me now,' I replied, 'for my master is
in New Orleans, and he purchased me not to sell, but to retain in his
own family.' 'Would you rather remain with your present mistress, than
be free?' 'No,' said I. 'Then fly with me to-night; we shall be in
Mobile in two hours from this, and, when the passengers are going on
shore, you can take my arm, and you can escape unobserved. The trader
who brought you to New Orleans exhibited to me a certificate of your
good character, and one from the Minister of the Church to which you
were attached in Virginia; and upon the faith of these assurances, and
the love I bear you, I promise before high heaven that I will marry you
as soon as it can be done.' This solemn promise, coupled with what had
already transpired, gave me confidence in the man; and rash as the act
may seem, I determined in an instant to go with him. My mistress had
been put under the charge of the captain; and as it would be past ten
o'clock when the steamer would land, she accepted an invitation of the
captain to remain on board with several other ladies till morning. I
dressed myself in my best clothes, and put a veil over my face, and was
ready on the landing of the boat. Surrounded by a number of passengers,
we descended the stage leading to the wharf and were soon lost in the
crowd that thronged the quay. As we went on shore we encountered several
persons announcing the names of hotels, the starting of boats for the
interior, and vessels bound for Europe. Among these was the ship
_Utica_, Captain Pell, bound for Havre. 'Now,' said Mr. Devenant, 'this
is our chance.' The ship was to sail at 12 o'clock that night, at high
tide; and following the men who were seeking passengers, we went
immediately on board. Devenant told the Captain of the ship that I was
his sister, and for such we passed during the voyage. At the hour of
twelve the _Utica_ set sail, and we were soon out at sea.

"The morning after we left Mobile, Devenant met me as I came from my
state-room and embraced me for the first time. I loved him, but it was
only that affection which we have for one who has done us a lasting
favour: it was the love of gratitude rather than that of the heart. We
were five weeks on the sea, and yet the passage did not seem long, for
Devenant was so kind. On our arrival at Havre, we were married and came
to Dunkirk, and I have resided here ever since."

At the close of this narrative, the clock struck ten, when the old man,
who was accustomed to retire at an early hour, rose to take leave,
saying at the same time, "I hope you will remain with us to-night." Mr.
Green would fain have excused himself, on the ground that they would
expect him and wait at the hotel, but a look from the lady told him to
accept the invitation. The old man was the father of Mrs. Devenant's
deceased husband, as you will no doubt long since have supposed. A
fortnight from the day on which they met in the grave-yard, Mr. Green
and Mrs. Devenant were joined in holy wedlock; so that George and Mary,
who had loved each other so ardently in their younger days, were now
husband and wife. Without becoming responsible for the truthfulness of
the above narrative, I give it to you, reader, as it was told to me in
January last, in France, by George Green himself.

A celebrated writer has justly said of woman: "A woman's whole life is a
history of the affections. The heart is her world; it is there her
ambition strives for empire; it is there her avarice seeks for hidden
treasures. She sends forth her sympathies on adventure; she embarks her
whole soul in the traffic of affection; and if shipwrecked, her case is
hopeless--for it is a bankruptcy of the heart."

Mary had every reason to believe that she would never see George again;
and although she confesses that the love she bore him was never
transferred to her first husband, we can scarcely find fault with her
for marrying Mr. Devenant. But the adherence of George Green to the
resolution never to marry, unless to his Mary, is, indeed, a rare
instance of the fidelity of man in the matter of love. We can but blush
for our country's shame, when we recall to mind the fact, that while
George and Mary Green, and numbers of other fugitives from American
slavery, can receive protection from any of the Governments of Europe,
they cannot return to their native land without becoming slaves.

FINIS.

AYR: PRINTED AT THE ADVERTISER OFFICE.

Transcriber's notes:
====================

ERRATA from the original volume, applied to the text.
======

Page 8, eleventh line from bottom, _for_ villages _read_ villas
The beautiful villages [**Erratum: villas] on the opposite side of the

145, fourth line from top, _for_ Dante _read_ Whittier
our own Dante? [**Erratum: Whittier?]

205, second line from bottom, _for_ towns _read_ lawns
in the vicinity of the lakes. Magnificent towns [**Erratum: lawns]

264, seventh line from top, _for_ 1834 _read_ 1844
In the month of May, 1834, [**Erratum: 1844,] while one evening

273, eighth line from top, _for_ vanity _read_ variety
lack vanity [**Erratum: variety] or imagination, either in his public

Letter XXIII displaced to be between XII and XIII, as per editor's
footnote.

TYPOS
=====

All "Mr" replaced with "Mr." (~10%). Similarly for "Mrs".

play," was to flag [**typo: flog] his slaves severely, and

tyranny in Great Britian [**typo: Britain] found social and

passengers, forty of whom were the "Vienneise [**typo: Viennese]

we were in sight of the land of Emmitt [**typo: Emmett] and

Rev. Dr. Ritchie, of Edinburgh. [** quote deleted] "It is indeed a

by M. Duguery, [**typo: Duguerry,] cure of the Madeleine,

The column is in imitation of the Trojan [**typo: Trajan]

XVI. and Marie Antionette [**typo: Antoinette] were driven from it by

building. [** full-stop added] The speaker, in the delivery of one of

Fete. [**typo: Fete.]

soiree [**typo: soiree] by M. de Tocqueville, Minister for

to the whole scene out of doors. The soiree [**typo: soiree]

announced, and after a good deal of jambing [**typo: jamming] and

same basket, without any regard to birth or station. [** full-stop added]

had more interesting incidents occuring [**typo: occurring] in it than

of Raphael and David--Arc de Triomphe--Beranger [** final em-dash added]

Jardin des Plantes, and spent an hour and a-half [**typo: a half]

Were [**typo: were] at the time continually running through my

meeted [**typo: meted] out to me while at Hartwell. And the

I will see you." [** missing quote inserted] In looking across the street, I

great contrast beetween [**typo: between] the monster Institution,

The Tower is surounded [**typo: surrounded] by a high wall, and

skilful muscians; [**typo: musicians;] I have listened with delight

history, and the accumulated discoveries of byegone [**typo: bygone]

acquiline, [**typo: aquiline] his mouth rather small, and not at all

and died at Newstead Abbey, November 18, 1808." [**missing quote inserted]

with the poet and saying:-- [**colon added]

had such ruins in view when he exclaimed:-- [**colon added]

Elyses [**typo: Elysees] at Paris; and as for statuary, the latter

where the celebrated Reformer, John Knox, re-resided.[**typo: resided.]

lake is carved out and and [**typo: deleted second "and"] built up into terrace

through to the north gallery, and and [**typo: deleted second "and"] thence to

myself upon so diminutive a looking [**typo: looking a] creature.

upon the wing--the artifical [**typo: artificial] stream, the brook

seemed to have forgotton [**typo: forgotten] that this was an exhibition

"Sartar [**typo: Sartor] Resartus," and if he does not rise from its

the cloisters of Tinterran [**typo: Tintern] Abbey, in its proudest

that which has accomplished the mightest [**typo: mightiest] and

That measure was in every respect an unconsitutional [**typo: unconstitutional]

practice what they have so long professsd [**typo: professed]. (Hear,

I had writen [**typo: written] for the occasion, was unanimously

taken him back and placed him in goal [**typo: gaol], and

was kept in goal [**typo: gaol] three days, during

into my hand, and at the sametime [**typo: same time] saying,

be a 100 dols. Bank [**typo?: bank] note, on the United States

But the adherence of George Green to the re-resolution [**typo: resolution]

Apparent errata, but possibly acceptable period words: (left as-is in text).
===============

without the least difficulty, and his jestures, [**typo: gestures,]
Per OED, jesture obs. form of gesture. May be typo?

motion, and the variagated [**typo: variegated] lamps with their many
Per OED, verb variagate was known variant of variegate up to the 19th century

enemies on the 13th Vendimaire [**typo: Vendemiaire]. The Hotel de
May be British variant used at the period

observed visiters [**typo: visitors] lingering about it, as if they
May be valid past spelling

being conveyed to them by means of a pully-basket, [**typo: pulley-basket,]
Per OED, pully known variant of pulley, 15th-19th centuries

under heaven!--Perish the sum of all villanies! [**typo: villainies!]
Per OED, known alternate spelling, 16th-19th centuries

force, carrying, upsetting, engulphing [**typo: engulfing] its adversaries,
Per OED, known alternate spelling (along with ingulf and ingulph);
an example of engulph quoted from an 1871 source.

master and visiters [**typo: visitors] speak of the down-trodden
May be valid past spelling

with long curls of a chesnut [**typo: chestnut] colour hanging down
Per OED, chesnut was the most common spelling as late as 1820.
Johnson set "chestnut" as the standard...

Others found to be acceptable variants:
Bastile,
plebians,
laureat,
trode,
Shakspere.

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