Mr. Sands’s cousin. He sends Ellen to her in order to get her out of the South. Although Mr. Sands assures Linda that he has legally freed Ellen, Mrs. Hobbs claims that he has “given” the girl to her; Linda is afraid to challenge her, as she knows about her status as a fugitive. Mrs. Hobbs doesn’t send Ellen to school, and she provides her with inadequate food and clothing. Her unscrupulous behavior is evidence that exploitation of black people isn’t limited to states in which slavery is legal, but exists across the nation and will go largely unpunished until slavery is abolished.