The Alstons left Washington on the seventh. Joseph, fretting to be off, managed by his impatience to soften the pain of Theodosia's parting with Aaron. She clung to her father, repeating all the trivial instructions which occur to one at such moments—'I forgot to give Katie the book I promised; please tell her I will send it at once from the South. And tell Natalie that my white cashmere shawl was forgotten on the top shelf of my cupboard at Richmond Hill. I want her to use it herself as long as she wishes, and——'

'The horses are waiting, Theo,' interrupted Joseph. 'We shall be late for the ferry.'

Aaron smiled wryly. 'Your husband is anxious to carry you away from me to his rice swamps, but I'll be down to see you soon, and in the meantime write me, madam, often and legibly. None of your careless scrawls, please.'

'Oh, I will,' she promised. 'And you, Papa, I shall count the days until I hear.'

Joseph scowled, angrily flicking tiny icicles from a bush. 'You said all that last night. Will you please to get into the coach, Theo?'

'I expect that Joseph is right, my dear,' said Aaron. 'It is never wise to prolong farewells'. He kissed her quickly and hurried away, his footsteps almost noiseless on the wooden planks that formed the sidewalk.

Joseph handed Theo brusquely into the coach; the horses strained forward into yellow mud that sucked around their hocks; the cumbersome vehicle moved sluggishly toward the Potomac ferry. They had started on their sixteen-day journey to Theodosia's new home.

This journey blurred into a tiresome haze of bumping coaches, dirty taverns whose unsatisfactory meals upset even their young stomachs; the general discomfort heightened from time to time by moments of danger when they forded rivers swollen by spring thaws.

Joseph was a difficult traveling companion, intolerant and demanding, treating all underlings in the imperious way that he treated his slaves. By a natural consequence he received grudging service. Post-horses were delayed; he never seemed able to engage adequate accommodations in the crowded inns; he and Theodosia were given the dregs in the wine flask, the last cut on the roast.

Traveling with Aaron had been very different. Theo had had no conception of the effect of her father's lavish use of his personal magnetism upon all human contacts. And on the rare occasions when he encountered discomfort which he could not remedy, he accepted it good-humoredly. But Joseph sulked. Or, if he did not sulk, he fumed, railing against the weather, the roads, the folly of trying to travel in this barbarous fashion.

'If we had waited for a packet to sail from Alexandria, would it not have been easier?' Theo suggested once.