, into
the most despicable criminality! Colonel Dumont in this will had devised
large sums of money to various charitable institutions, and in the event
of his life being prolonged, did not wish to be pointed at and lauded
for this act. True charity is modest, and Colonel Dumont did not desire
to see his name blazoned forth to the world for doing that which he
honestly and religiously deemed his duty.

This modesty had favored Jaspar's plans. No one could now gainsay the
will he had invented; and he felt strong in his position, especially
after the witnesses had assented to their signatures.

Among the persona who had been present in the library was Mr. Faxon, an
aged and worthy clergyman. He had for many years been an intimate friend
of Colonel Dumont, and was a legatee in his will to a liberal amount. A
constant visitor in the family, its spiritual adviser and comforter, he
had possessed the unlimited confidence of the late planter and his
daughter. To him the whole clause relating to Emily seemed like a
falsehood. Pure and holy in his own character, it was beyond his
conception that a man of Colonel Dumont's lofty and Christian views
could have lived so many years in the practice of this deception. He had
no means of disproving the illegitimacy of Emily. The family had been
unknown to him at the period of her birth. The house-servants, with the
exception of Hatchie, were all younger than Emily. Then, the statement
was made in the will, and was, therefore, the statement of Colonel
Dumont himself,--for the genuineness of the will he did not call in
question. In accordance with his general character, her father had
manumitted her, and left her a competence. From this clause he inferred
that her father intended to place her beyond the reach of harm, and
beyond the possibility of ever being reduced to the degraded condition
so often the lot of the quadroon at the South. He had not only given her
freedom, but had provided for her conveyance beyond the pale of slavery.
With these intentions, if she were in reality a slave, Mr. Faxon could
find no fault. They were liberal in the extreme. But why had he, at this
late period, mentioned the stain upon her birth? Why not let her live as
he had educated her? These queries were so easily answered that the good
clergyman could not condemn the dead on account of them. If the
daughter, then she was the heiress; if not, legitimately, it would be
injustice to the brother.

Mr. Faxon