As Beulah Land had paid off its debts and prospered, with the combined efforts of Sarah, Leon, and Floyd, and the added resources of Felix and Nell and Penelope, so too had Roscoe Elk prospered, and his enterprises expanded. The cattle farm had done well with Turnip’s overseeing. It now supported a hundred head and used the services of two male slaves in addition to Turnip, and one female, Puddy, who had married Turnip because it was convenient for them to have it so and kept the new house that had been built around the chimney left over from the old Ralston house.

Besides the cattle farm, which had been expanded by further purchase, Roscoe now owned a thousand acres of good timberland, three business-district properties in Highboro, and the house that had been Felix and Nell’s. The last had required time and discretion to effect.

Two months after the big fire, in early March 1838, Nell had decided to give up the house in town. As Felix began to improve in health and spirits, it became clear that he would never be fit enough to pursue his old life of law and business. More and more he talked of Beulah Land, his mind and stories going back to his boyhood there with his brother Arnold. Leon, who had always loved Felix, urged Nell to leave the town and come to live at Beulah Land. There was room enough and to spare, even after Penelope came to live; and the visiting back and forth between town and country was impossible for Nell and Felix and inconvenient for Sarah and Leon.

Taking only what she prized and sensibly leaving the remainder of its furnishings to be sold with the house, Nell and Felix made the move—a happy day for both of them, for although she had responded well to the crisis of her husband’s illness and a drastic change in their fortune, Nell was tired. She no longer cared about having a house of her own. Gladly, she gave up domestic management, selling all her house slaves, excepting Bianca who had for so long been her personal maid.