o stand at the window in his leisure moments,
adding to his information from some pleasant book; but his mistress
supposed that he was looking at the pictures merely, till one day,
entering the dining-room softly, she heard him reading aloud. He had a
sweet, boy's voice, which somewhat pacified the anger she felt at such
presumption in a slave; and though at first rebuking him, she
reconsidered the matter during the evening, and bade him read to her
from a new novel. Henceforward Paul gained favor, and his mistress
found it convenient to employ him as an amanuensis. She released him
from menial duties, and gave him neat attire, and it was wonderful how
well these accessories became him. He was unassuming, as before,
submitting with patience to his lot; and at length he became
indispensable to Mrs. Everett. Her attachment to books of fiction
amounted to dissipation, and the part that he bore in their perusal
filled his warm imagination till his fancies were brighter than
romance--they became poetry. The one great grief of his life touched
his whole face with a pensive melancholy, but he forebore to tell them
his true history again, preferring to wait for some golden moment when
he might be believed and emancipated.

From the beginning Mrs. Everett's agent disliked him. Wait was a
Northern adventurer, cool, courageous, and ambitious, who had settled
in the South with the resolution of becoming rich, and he had pursued
his purpose with steady inflexibility. He was not a bad man, but a
bitter one, and Paul had in some sort divided Mrs. Everett's esteem
from him. Previously he had been her sole and undisputed adviser, and
as she was readily influenced, he hoped, in course of time, to be
acceptable as her second husband. He was young and manly, and she was
giddy and middle-aged. Her relatives held him in contempt, but he had
proved his courage, and they did not care to cross him. But with the
coming of Paul he had lost somewhat of her regard, and he had laid it
to the boy's charge. Paul read his calm purpose in his keen eyes, and
he shuddered at the thought of some day falling into his relentless
hands. He labored to conciliate his enemy, but with little effect,
until one afternoon, Wait told him to obtain permission from Mrs.
Everett and come to the office. He dictated some ambiguous letters to
Paul, and gave him many papers to burn, meanwhile inspecting a pair of
long pistols which he took from a portmanteau. It was late in