a gorgeous drapery
of clouds. When the moon looked on the sea, the sealed fountain within
her soul was strangely stirred. The shadow of rocks on the beach, the
white sails of fishing-boats glimmering in the distance, the everlasting
sighing of the sea, made her think of ghosts; though the oppressive
feeling never shaped itself into words, except in the statement, "I'se
sort o' feared o' moonlight." So poor Chloe paced her small round upon
the earth, as unconscious as the ant in her molehill that she was
whirling round among the stars. The extent of her moral development was,
that it was her duty to obey her mistress and believe all the minister
said. She had often been told that was sufficient for her salvation, and
she supposed it was so.

But the dream that takes possession of young hearts came to Chloe also;
though in her case it proved merely the shadow of a dream, or a dream of
a shadow. On board of one of the sloops that carried fish to Baltimore
was a free colored man, named Jim Saunders. The first time she saw him,
she thought his large brown eyes were marvellously handsome, and that he
had a very pleasant way of speaking to her. She always watched for the
ship in which he came, and was very particular to have on a clean apron
when she was likely to meet him. She looked at her own eyes in a bit of
broken looking-glass, and wondered whether they seemed as handsome to
him as his eyes did to her. In her own opinion she had rather pretty
eyes, and she was not mistaken; for the Scriptural description, "black,
but comely," was applicable to her. Jim never told her so, but she had
somehow received an impression that perhaps he thought so. Sometimes he
helped her turn the fish on the Flake, and afterward walked with her
along the beach, as she wended her way homeward. On such occasions there
was a happy sound in the song of the sea, and her heart seemed to dance
up in sparkles, like the waves kissed by the sunshine. It was the first
free, strong emotion she had ever experienced, and it sent a glow
through the cold dulness of her lonely life.

Jim went away on a long voyage. He said perhaps he should be gone two
years. The evening before he sailed, he walked with Chloe on the beach;
and when he bade her good by, he gave her a pretty little pink shell,
with a look that she never forgot. She gazed long after him, and felt
flustered when he turned and saw her watching him. As he passed round a
rock that would conceal him