He had determined on this course from a variety of considerations.
Nothing, he well knew, could affect his family. He had always studiously
kept them from any participation in his offences. The laws had no terror
for them; and, untroubled by any process against him, they could still
remain and peaceably possess his property, of which he well knew, in the
existing state of society in the South, no legal outlawry of himself
would ever avail to deprive them. This could not have been his hope in
their common flight. Such a measure, too, would only have impeded his
progress, in the event of his pursuit, and have burdened him with
encumbrances which would perpetually involve him in difficulty. He
calculated differently his chances. His hope was to be able, when the
first excitements had overblown, to return to the village, and at least
quietly to effect such a disposition of his property, which was not
inconsiderable, as to avoid the heavy and almost entire loss which would
necessarily follow any other determination.
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