' light a
fire an' sleep 'round it. They cert'n'y are a bad lot, sir. They'll
steal a sheep or a horse ez quick ez winkin'. Why, t'want a year ago
that they stole a mighty pretty mare o' mine, that I set a heap by,
an' rid off her tail an' mane a-tearin' through the brush with her.
She got loose somehow an' come back to me. But they stole two horses
for ole Mr. Hawkins, down near Fallin' Springs, an' he a'in't been
able to git 'em back. There's awful murders an' villainies done by
'em. But some o' them sang-digger gals is awful pretty. . . . Yes,
sir, I reckon she was a sang-digger, sure enough."

[This wild creature of the woods was treated kindly by Gilman and his
wife, and she finally sacrificed herself to save Mrs. Gilman.]

FOOTNOTE:

[49] By permission of the author, and publishers, the Town Topics
Publishing Co., N. Y.

GRACE KING.

GRACE KING was born in New Orleans, the daughter of William W. King,
and has made a reputation as a writer of short stories depicting
Creole life. Her "Balcony Stories" are like pictures in their vivid
intensity.

WORKS.

Monsieur Motte.
Earthlings.
Balcony Stories.
Bonne Maman.
Bayou L'Ombre.
History of Louisiana.

LA GRANDE DEMOISELLE.

A BALCONY STORY.

(_From the Century Magazine_,[50] Jan., 1893.)

That was what she was called by everybody as soon as she was seen or
described. Her name, besides baptismal titles, was Idalie Sainte Foy
Mortemart des Islets. When she came into society, in the brilliant
little world of New Orleans, it was the event of the season, and
after she came in, whatever she did became also events. Whether she
went, or did not go; what she said, or did not say; what she wore, and
did not wear--all these became important matters of discussion, quoted
as much or more than what the President said, or the governor thought.
And in those days, the days of '59, New Orleans was not, as it is now,
a one-heiress place, but it may be said that one could find heiresses
then as one finds type-writing girls now.

Mademoiselle Idalie received her birth and what education she had on
her parent's plantation, the famed old Reine Sainte Foy place, and it
is no secret that, like the ancient kings of France, her birth
exceeded her education.

It was a plantation, the Reine Sainte Foy, the richness and luxury of
which are really well described in those perfervid pictures of
tropical life, at one time the passion of philan