slavery; in which state he had remained long
enough to keep all his detestation for slavery, without losing his
fitness for freedom. He might have returned, ere this, to Africa, or he
might have held some military office under Toussaint; but he preferred
remaining on the estate which he had partly saved from devastation,
bringing up his little children to revere and enthusiastically obey the
Commander-in-chief--the idol of their colour. The heir of the Etoile
estate did not appear, nor transmit his claim. Bellair, therefore, and
two of his former fellow bondsmen, cultivated the estate, paying over
the fixed proportion of the produce to the public funds.

Bellair hastened to lead Madame L'Ouverture's horse round to the other
side of the house, where no prickly vegetation was allowed to encroach.
His wife was at work and singing to her child under the shadow of the
colonnade--once an erection of great beauty, but now blackened by fire,
and at one end crumbling into ruins.

"Minerve!" cried Madame, on seeing her.

"Deesha is her name," said Bellair, smiling.

"Oh, you call her by her native name! Would we all knew our African
names, as you know hers! Deesha!"

Deesha hastened forward, all joy and pride at being the hostess of the
Ouverture family. Eagerly she led the way into the inhabited part of
the abode--a corner of the palace-like mansion--a corner well covered in
from the weather, and presenting a strange contrast of simplicity and
luxury.

The courtyard through which they passed was strewed with ruins, which,
however, were almost entirely concealed by the brushwood, through which
only a lane was kept cleared for going in and out. The whole was
shaded, almost as with an awning, by the shrubs which grew from the
cornices, and among the rafters which had remained where the roof once
was. Ropes of creepers hung down the wall, so twisted, and of so long a
growth, that Denis had climbed half-way up the building by means of this
natural ladder, when he was called back again. The jalousies were
decayed--starting away from their hinges, or hanging in fragments; while
the window-sills were gay with flowering weeds, whose seeds even took
root in the joints of the flooring within, open as it was to the air and
the dew. The marble steps and entrance-hall were kept clear of weeds
and dirt, and had a strange air of splendour in the midst of the
desolation. The gilding of the balustrades of the hall was tarnished;