him,
he gathered that the black woman was pleading earnestly, passionately,
and he could hear Miss Laura's regretful voice, as she closed the
interview:

"I am sorry, Catherine, but it is simply impossible. I would if I
could, but I cannot."

The woman came back first, and as she passed by an open window, the
light fell upon her face, which showed signs of deep distress,
hardening already into resignation or despair. She was probably in
trouble of some sort, and her mistress had not been able, doubtless
for some good reason, to help her out. This suspicion was borne out by
the fact that when Miss Laura came back to him, she too seemed
troubled. But since she did not speak of the matter, the colonel gave
no sign of his own thoughts.

"You have said nothing of yourself, Laura," he said, wishing to divert
her mind from anything unpleasant. "Tell me something of your own
life--it could only be a cheerful theme, for you have means and
leisure, and a perfect environment. Tell me of your occupations, your
hopes, your aspirations."

"There is little enough to tell, Henry," she returned, with a sudden
courage, "but that little shall be the truth. You will find it out, if
you stay long in town, and I would rather you learned it from our lips
than from others less friendly. My mother is--my mother--a dear, sweet
woman to whom I have devoted my life! But we are not well off, Henry.
Our parlour carpet has been down for twenty-five years; surely you
must have recognised the pattern! The house has not been painted for
the same length of time; it is of heart pine, and we train the flowers
and vines to cover it as much as may be, and there are many others
like it, so it is not conspicuous. Our rentable property is three
ramshackle cabins on the alley at the rear of the lot, for which we
get four dollars a month each, when we can collect it. Our country
estate is a few acres of poor land, which we rent on shares, and from
which we get a few bushels of corn, an occasional load of firewood,
and a few barrels of potatoes. As for my own life, I husband our small
resources; I keep the house, and wait on mother, as I have done since
she became helpless, ten years ago. I look after Graciella. I teach in
the Sunday School, and I give to those less fortunate such help as the
poor can give the poor."

"How did you come to lose Belleview?" asked the colonel, after a
pause. "I had understood Major Treadwell to be one of the few people
around