one of the open jalousies, so as to hear
what passed within.

"It is the English deputation," said Paul. "Hear what my brother will
say."

"What will become of them?" said Madame. "I do not know what would
become of me if my husband were ever as angry with me as I know he is
with them."

There were indeed signs of wrath in the countenance which was commonly
gentle as the twilight. The rigid uprightness of his figure, the fiery
eye, the distended nostril, all showed that Toussaint was struggling
with anger. Before him stood a group of Englishmen--a sailor holding a
wand, on which was fixed a small white banner, two gentlemen in plain
clothes, the captain of the frigate which rode in the bay, and a colonel
of the English troops in Jamaica.

"It is all very well, gentlemen," Toussaint was saying--"it is all very
well as regards the treaty. Twenty-four hours ago we should have had no
difficulty in concluding it. But what have you to say to this treatment
of women on board the schooner you captured? What have you to say to
your act of taking all the gentlemen out of your prize (except one who
would not quit his sister), leaving the ladies in charge of a brutal
prize-master, who was drunk--was it not so?" he added, turning to one of
his officers.

"It was: he was drunk, and refused the ladies access to their trunks of
clothes, denied them the wine left for their use, and alarmed them
extremely by his language. These ladies were wives of our most
distinguished officers."

"It matters not whose wives they were," said Toussaint: "they were
women; and I will treat with none who thus show themselves not to be
men."

"We do not ask you to treat with my prize-master," said Captain
Reynolds. "If it be true--"

"It is true," said a voice from the window, to which all listened in a
moment. "My maid and I were on board that schooner; from which we
landed four hours ago. It is true that we were confined to the cabin,
denied the refreshments that were before our eyes, and the use of our
own clothes; and it is true that the oaths and threats of a drunken man
were in our ears all night. When morning came, we looked out to see if
we were really in the seas of Saint Domingo. It seemed as if we had
been conveyed where the whites are still paramount." And Therese
indignantly walked away.

"You hear!" said Toussaint. "And you ask me to trade with Jamaica!
While permitted to obtain provisions from our coast, you have c