e gentlemen who accompanied him. Assuming the air of an
ambassador, and looking round him, as if to require the attention of all
present, Monsieur Coasson discharged himself of his commission, as
follows:--

"General Toussaint--"

"They will not acknowledge him as L'Ouverture," observed Therese to
Madame Pascal and Genifrede. Afra's eyes filled with tears. Genifrede
was absorbed in contemplating her brothers--both grown manly, and the
one looking the soldier, the other the student.

"General Toussaint," said Coasson, "I come, the bearer of a letter to
you from the First Consul."

In his hand was now seen a gold box, which he did not, however, deliver
at the moment.

"With it, I am commissioned to offer the greetings of General Leclerc,
who awaits with anxiety your arrival at his quarters as his
Lieutenant-General."

"Upon what does General Leclerc ground his expectation of seeing _me_
there?"

"Upon the ground of the commands of the First Consul, declared in his
proclamation to the inhabitants of Saint Domingo, and, no doubt, more
fully in this letter to yourself."

Here he delivered the box, desiring that the presence of himself and his
companions might be no impediment to General Toussaint's reading his
dispatches.

Toussaint had no intention that they should be any hindrance. He read
and re-read the letter, while all eyes but those of Aimee were fixed
upon his countenance. With an expression of the quietest satisfaction,
she was gazing upon her brothers, unvexed by the presence of numbers,
and the transaction of state business. They were there, and she was
happy.

Those many eyes failed to discover anything from the countenance of
Toussaint. It was immovable; and Monsieur Coasson was so far
disappointed. It had been his object to prevent the dispatches which he
brought from being road in private, that he might be enabled to report
how they were received. He had still another resource. He announced
that he had brought with him the proclamation of the First Consul to the
inhabitants at large of Saint Domingo. As it was a public document, he
would, with permission, read it aloud. Toussaint now looked round, to
command attention to the words of the ruler of France. Vincent sought
to exchange glances with Aimee; but Aimee had none to spare. Monsieur
Papalier had unceremoniously entered into conversation with some of the
guests of his own complexion, and did not cease upon any hint, declaring
t