Linda decides to leave when her children are brought from her grandmother’s house to the master’s house so they can be used to control her.

Linda has always been strong-willed, but she also looks out for the best interest of her children.  It is more important to her that they be safe than that she can get away.  However, when she is brought to live in the master’s house everything changes. 

But now that I was certain my children were to be put in their power, in order to give them a stronger hold on me, I resolved to leave them that night. ("The Flight")

Knowing that her children will be servants and slaves, rather than loved as children, Linda cannot bear it.  She has to make the hard choice to leave them, because there is no longer any benefit to her staying for their sakes.

It is a difficult decision to run away knowing that you are putting your own life and that of your children at risk.  Linda realizes that she is not the only one in danger.  She wonders what will happen to her children if she is caught.  Yet knowing the alternative, it is worth the risk.  Fortunately, she gets away, and waits for her children to be sold so that they can live a better life.