uch to
overcome; yet I look upon Genifrede as perhaps the most favoured of our
children. It is so great a thing to be so beloved!"

"It is indeed the greatest thing." Margot stopped, as a turn in the
walk brought them in view of the house. The long ranges of verandah
stood in the moonlight, checkered with the still shadows of the
neighbouring trees. Every window of the large white mansion gave out a
stream of yellow light, to contrast with the silvery shining of the
moon. "This is very unlike the hut we went to when we were married,
Toussaint. Yet I was quite happy and contented. It is indeed the
greatest thing to be loved."

"And have you not that greatest thing here too? Do I not love you, my
Margot?"

"Oh, yes! Yes, indeed, we love each other as much as we did then--in
that single room, with its earthen floor, and its cribs against the
wall, and the iron pot in the fireplace, and the hen pecking before the
door. But, Toussaint, look at the difference now! Look at this
beautiful house, and all the gardens and cane-pieces--and think of our
palace at Port-au-Prince--and think of the girls as they look at church,
or in the boat to-day--and how the country is up, rejoicing, wherever
you go--and how the Assembly consider you--think of all that has
happened since, the wedding-day of ours at Breda! It is so fine--so
wonderful, that you shall not frighten me about anything that can
happen. I am sure the blessing of God is upon you, my husband; and you
shall not make me afraid."

"I would have none be afraid while God reigns, Margot. May you ever say
that you will not fear! The blessing of God may be on us now, love; but
it was never more so than when we went home to our hut at Breda. When I
lay under the trees at noon, taking care of the cattle, how many things
I used to think of to say to you when I came home!"

"And so did I, as I kneeled at my washing by the brook-side, and you
were driving Monsieur Bayou, twenty miles off, and were expected home in
the evening. How much there was to say at the end of those days!"

"It was not for ourselves then, Margot, that we have been raised to what
we are. We were as happy drawing water in the wood, and gathering
plantains in the negro-grounds, as we have ever been in these
shrubberies. We were as merry in that single room at Breda as in this
mansion, or in our palace. It is not for our own sakes that we have
been so raised."

"It is pleasant for our child