He told me that he only consented to do so, because of the very strong prejudice against me in the neighborhood, and that he feared for my safety if I remained there.
Thus, after three years spent in the country, roughing it in the field, and experiencing all sorts of hardships, I was again permitted to return to Baltimore, the very place, of all others, short of a free state, where I most desired to live.

The three years spent in the country, had made some difference in me, and in the household of Master Hugh.

"Little Tommy" was no longer _little_ Tommy; and I was not the slender lad who had left for the Eastern Shore just three years before.

The loving relations between me and Mas' Tommy were broken up.

He was no longer dependent on me for protection, but felt himself a _man_, with other and more suitable associates.