CHAPTER XXIV.
THE LAW AND ITS VICTIM.
The death of Dr.Morton, on the third day of his illness, came like a shock upon his wife and daughters.

The corpse had scarcely been committed to its mother earth before new and unforeseen difficulties appeared to them.

By the laws of the Slave States, the children follow the condition of their mother.

If the mother is free, the children are free; if a slave, the children are slaves.

Being unacquainted with the Southern code, and no one presuming that Marion had any negro blood in her veins, Dr.Morton had not given the subject a single thought.