reasoned in this manner. He could not believe, even with all
the evidence before him. There was a reasonable answer, apparently, to
every objection he could think of, and he resolved to apply to Jaspar
and Hatchie for more information. All that Jaspar could say, or would
say, in answer to his interrogatories, was that his brother's wife had
died in giving birth to a dead child; and that Emily, who was the child
of a house-servant by him, had so engaged his attention by her singular
beauty that he had substituted her for his own child. This story, Jaspar
said, his brother had told him in the strictest confidence, many years
before. Mr. Faxon, appreciating the disappointment of a father with such
a sensitive nature as Colonel Dumont, was willing to believe that Emily
had been substituted to supply in his affections the place of the lost
child; but that he should educate her as his own child, and then cast
her out from the pale of society, was incredible!

The evidence was so strong, he could see no escape from the terrible
conclusion that the gentle being, to whom he had ministered in joy and
in sorrow, was a slave! It required a hard struggle in his mind before
he could reconcile himself to the revolting truth. Her beautiful
character, built up mostly under his own supervision, he regarded with
peculiar pride. He was not so bigoted, however, as to believe his labors
lost, or even less worthy, because bestowed, as it now appeared, upon a
slave. In heaven his labors would be just as apparent in the quadroon as
in the noble-born lady.

After the departure of the friends who had been summoned to the reading
of the will, and whose stay had been prolonged by the melancholy
interest they felt in the unfortunate Emily, Mr. Faxon requested to see
her, and was shown to her room. She had just been restored to
consciousness, by the assiduous efforts of her maids, as the good man
entered.

"O, Mr. Faxon!" sobbed Emily, but she could articulate no more. The
terrible reality of her situation had entirely overcome her.

"Be comforted, my dear child," said Mr. Faxon, affectionately, taking
her hand. "The ways of Providence are mysterious, and we must bend
humbly to our lot."

"I will try to be resigned to my fate, terrible as it is," replied
Emily, looking at the minister with a subdued expression, while hot
tears poured down her cheeks. "You will not forsake me, if all others
do!"

"No, no, my dear child; it is my duty to wrestl