gs alone could have called to
her aid.

"That was very prettily done, lady; but I cannot obey. It is useless to
multiply words. You _must_ go with me;" and Maxwell extended his hand.

Emily recoiled from the proffered hand; her brow lowered, and her lips
compressed. She regarded him with a look of ineffable scorn,--a look
before which even Maxwell, penetrated, as he was, with evil purposes,
quailed.

"Go along, now, about your business, and don't bother the lady any
more!" said the old woman, taking advantage of the momentary silence.

"Miss Dumont, I once more ask you to go with me peaceably," said
Maxwell, not heeding the dame's remark.

"And once more I answer, _I will not_!"

"I should be sorry to use compulsion. Do you forget your condition?"

"I do not," replied Emily, with a tremor, but without the loss of her
self-possession. "I am of the best blood of Louisiana."

"But still a _slave!_"

"Good gracious!" exclaimed the hostess.

"I am _not_ a slave! You know this is the plot of a villain like
yourself. The true will has been found."

"Indeed! Is it here?" said Maxwell, with a sneer, for while he had Emily
in his power he feared nothing.

"No; but it shall be brought forth in due season."

"Until which time you are a slave; and not only a slave, but _my_
slave," replied Maxwell, with perfect coolness, as he drew from his
pocket-book the forged bill of sale.

"Great God, desert me not in this hour of my afflictions!" groaned
Emily. This last revelation entirely unnerved her, and exposed in a more
terrible light her appalling position. She doubted not the paper she saw
in Maxwell's hands was a bill of sale of her person, and that it would
establish his claim; for his present purposes seemed too flagrant to be
pursued without good authority. Her features, dress and language, she
felt, would be no safeguards. She had seen slave-girls as fair and white
as herself. She had heard of those who, with scarcely a drop of negro
blood in their veins, were educated to pander to the appetite of
depravity. She had seen them in the streets of New Orleans, in no manner
differing in appearance from, the best-born ladies. Her situation,
then, was an awful one.

"Will you read this paper?" continued Maxwell.

"No; like the will, it is a forgery!" replied Emily, determined to die
rather than yield herself to the guidance of the attorney.

"It gives me an undeniable right to your person, and you must obey me.
The