My bondage and my freedom

Extrait :

"THE NAME "OLD MASTER" A TERROR—COLONEL LLOYD'S
PLANTATION—WYE RIVER—WHENCE ITS NAME—POSITION
OF THE LLOYDS—HOME ATTRACTION—MEET
OFFERING—JOURNEY FROM TUCKAHOE TO WYE
RIVER—SCENE ON REACHING OLD
MASTER'S—DEPARTURE OF GRANDMOTHER—STRANGE
MEETING OF SISTERS AND BROTHERS—REFUSAL TO BE
COMFORTED—SWEET SLEEP.
That mysterious individual referred to in the first chapter as
an object of terror among the inhabitants of our little cabin, under
the ominous title of "old master," was really a man of some
consequence. He owned several farms in Tuckahoe; was the
chief clerk and butler on the home plantation of Col. Edward
Lloyd; had overseers on his own farms; and gave directions to
overseers on the farms belonging to Col. Lloyd. This plantation
is situated on Wye river—the river receiving its name, doubtless,
from Wales, where the Lloyds originated. They (the
Lloyds) are an old and honored family in Maryland, exceedingly
wealthy. The home plantation, where they have resided,
perhaps for a century or more, is one of the largest, most fertile,
and best appointed, in the state.
About this plantation, and about that queer old master—who
must be something more than a man, and something worse
than an angel—the reader will easily imagine that I was not
only curious, but eager, to know all that could be known. Unhappily
for me, however, all the information I could get concerning
him increased my great dread of being carried thither—
of being separated from and deprived of the protection of
my grandmother and grandfather."..........to be continued !