It was a full moon. St. Clare decided to go into town and told Tom that he would be back soon. So Tom stayed home and thought of the p
【小题1】 from his kind master— “I will let you be f【小题2】 .” He smiled and kept thinking, his small house and his family. He still could not believe it — He was going to be a free man! What a beautiful e【小题3】 ! But soon the cloud came over.
While St Clare was walking into town, he saw some men fighting, who were all drunk, and it was going into a worse situation. He tried to s【小题4】 them. One of the men had a knife. When St. Clare tried to take it, the man wounded him.
Tom was asleep when there was a rushing knock on the door and several men carried St Clare inside. He was unconscious (昏迷) because of the pain and the 1【小题5】 of blood. Tom hurried up to call the doctor. Miss Ophelia quickly prepared a bed and tried to wake St Clare.
The doctor arrived and the look on his face said that there was no h【小题6】. He cleaned and bandaged the wound, and said that St Clare needed to rest.
St. Clare lay with his eyes half open, but it was evident that he struggled with painful thoughts. After a while, he laid his hand on Tom’s, who was kneeling beside him, he said w【小题7】 “Tom! Poor you!”
“What, my kind master? ” said Tom.
St Clare held Tom’s hand. “I'm dying. Please pray for me!”
“If you would like a clergyman (牧师),…” said Tom.
St. Clare shook his head, and said again, “Pray!”
And Tom prayed with all his heart for the soul (灵魂) that was 1【小题8】 . When he finished, St. Clare looked at him and took his hand again. The black hand and the w【小题9】 one held each other with an equal clasp. Then he closed his eyes forever.
Tears came down. Tom knew that St. Clare’s death would make things very dangerous for him and the other slaves. Now they would belong to Marie, who was always cold, and things were going to be very d【小题10】 from before.
The sky got darker and darker and the moon was gone.