There are two different owners in this situation. Esther is owned by “Captain Anthony,” as is the narrator, while her paramour is owned by “Col. Lloyd.”
Thanks. Something was telling me as I typed the original comment that I should re-read the account.
One thing I didn't pick up on in the original reading is that "Captain Anthony" was something of a slave owning sharecropper to Col. Lloyd. To help make ends meet, Captain Anthony would occasionally sell one of his slaves.
Anthony either sold his land ownings, lost them, or never had any and his slaves were acquired as an inheritance.
Whatever the case, Capt. Anthony couldn't make it on his own, he had to work for Col. Lloyd.
Douglas doesn't tell us much but in modern parlance, Captain Anthony seemed to have a bit of autism going on.