Midnight
She had never once thought of making companions , in the ordinary sense , of those for whom she labored . They had been so entirely foreign to her early life that , while she labored unremittingly for their advancement and entertained for many of them the most affectionate regard , there was never any inclination to that friendly intimacy which would have been sure to arise if her pupils had been of the same race as herself . She recognized their right most fully to careful and polite consideration ; she had striven to cultivate among them gentility of deportment ; but she had longed with a hungry yearning for friendly white faces , and the warm hands and hearts of friendly associates . Her chief recreation in this impalpable loneliness -- this Chillon of the heart in which she had been bound so long -- was in daily rides upon her horse , Midnight . Even in her New England home she had been passionately fond of a horse , and while at school had been carefully trained in horsemanship , being a prime favorite with the old French riding-master who had charge of that branch of education in the seminary of her native town . Midnight , coming to her from the dying hand of her only brother , had been to her a sacred trust and a pet of priceless value . All her pride and care had centered upon him , and never had horse received more devoted attention .