hild was laid out in the parlour, amid a mass of flowers. Miss
Laura, for love of him and of the colonel, with her own hands prepared
his little body for the last sleep. The undertaker, who hovered
around, wished, with a conventional sense of fitness, to remove old
Peter's body to a back room. But the colonel said no.

"They died together; together they shall lie here, and they shall be
buried together."

He gave instructions as to the location of the graves in the cemetery
lot. The undertaker looked thoughtful.

"I hope, sir," said the undertaker, "there will be no objection. It's
not customary--there's a coloured graveyard--you might put up a nice
tombstone there--and you've been away from here a long time, sir."

"If any one objects," said the colonel, "send him to me. The lot is
mine, and I shall do with it as I like. My great-great-grandfather
gave the cemetery to the town. Old Peter's skin was black, but his
heart was white as any man's! And when a man reaches the grave, he is
not far from God, who is no respecter of persons, and in whose
presence, on the judgment day, many a white man shall be black, and
many a black man white."

The funeral was set for the following afternoon. The graves were to be
dug in the morning. The undertaker, whose business was dependent upon
public favour, and who therefore shrank from any step which might
affect his own popularity, let it be quietly known that Colonel French
had given directions to bury Peter in Oak Cemetery.

It was inevitable that there should be some question raised about so
novel a proceeding. The colour line in Clarendon, as in all Southern
towns, was, on the surface at least, rigidly drawn, and extended from
the cradle to the grave. No Negro's body had ever profaned the sacred
soil of Oak Cemetery. The protestants laid the matter before the
Cemetery trustees, and a private meeting was called in the evening to
consider the proposed interment.

White and black worshipped the same God, in different churches. There
had been a time when coloured people filled the galleries of the white
churches, and white ladies had instilled into black children the
principles of religion and good morals. But as white and black had
grown nearer to each other in condition, they had grown farther apart
in feeling. It was difficult for the poor lady, for instance, to
patronise the children of the well-to-do Negro or mulatto; nor was the
latter inclined to look up to white people