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The next morning, as Dick dresses, he asks his Black attendant, Tom, if he would like to travel north with him. Tom is about Dick’s age, and he understands that traveling north would offer him a chance at freedom. He says that such a trip would be fine as long as Dick makes sure Tom gets home safely.
Yet “Tom’s eyes belied his words,” and Dick feels confident that once they are in the north, he can keep his word to Charity and see Tom freed without much effort. At lunch, Dick tells his father, Colonel Owen, that he feels “a trifle run down” and wants a “change of scene.” The colonel, who indulges his heir and wants him to have advantages that he didn’t have while working for his wealth, suggests a trip north. Dick proposes New York and Boston, and the colonel agrees. While in New York, Dick can meet with the family’s business representative. He can also assess the state of abolitionist activity. This activity distresses the colonel, who hopes the Ohio man’s fate will discourage other abolitionists.
Dick agrees that abolitionists are a “pestiferous lot.” He suggests that Tom should go with him, but the colonel, who considers himself an expert on “the subject of negroes,” won’t allow it. He caught Tom reading a newspaper, although Tom claimed only to be looking at illustrations. If Tom has somehow learned to read, he can’t be trusted near “low-down abolitionists.” The colonel suggests that Grandison, a more mature and trustworthy slave, should go with Dick.
The colonel calls for Grandison and, when he arrives, questions him about whether he has been treated well. Grandison says he has and attests that he’s better off as one of the colonel’s slaves than he would be if he were free. The colonel’s “feudal heart” is gratified. He tells Grandison that he will travel north with Dick. He warns him about “cussed abolitionists” who persuade slaves to go north to frigid Canada, and Grandison asks whether, if approached by these people, he may hit them.
Grandison expresses “sudden alarm” that the abolitionists might detain him, but the colonel assures him that Dick will protect him and that, when they return, Grandison will receive a necklace of beads for Betty, the woman he plans to marry in the fall. Confident that Grandison is “abolitionist-proof,” the colonel tells Dick to take him on the trip north.
