o distraction, and she is entirely in my power," thought he.
"It will be strange indeed if I cannot mould her as I will."

Arrived at the cottage, he found Tulee washing on a bench outside the
kitchen. "Good morning, Tulee," said he. "Is your mistress up yet?"

"Missy Rosy ha'n't been asleep," she answered in a very cold tone,
without looking up from her work.

He entered the house, and softly opened the door of Rosa's sleeping
apartment. She was walking slowly, with arms crossed, looking
downward, as if plunged in thought. Her extreme pallor disarmed him,
and there was no hardness in his tone when he said, "Rosabella!"

She started, for she had supposed the intruder was Tulee. With head
proudly erect, nostrils dilated, and eyes that flashed fire, she
exclaimed, "How dare you come here?"

This reception was so entirely unexpected, that it disconcerted him;
and instead of the severe reproof he had contemplated, he said, in an
expostulating tone: "Rosa, I always thought you the soul of honor.
When we parted, you promised not to go to the plantation unless I was
with you. Is this the way you keep your word?"

"_You_ talk of honor and promises!" she exclaimed.

The sneer conveyed in the tones stung him to the quick. But he made an
effort to conceal his chagrin, and said, with apparent calmness: "You
must admit it was an unaccountable freak to start for the plantation
in the evening, and go wandering round the grounds in that mysterious
way. What could have induced you to take such a step?"

"I accidentally overheard Tom telling Tulee that you were to bring
home a bride from the North yesterday. I could not believe it of you,
and I was too proud to question him. But after reflecting upon it, I
chose to go and see for myself. And when I _had_ seen for myself, I
wished to remind you of that past which you seemed to have forgotten."

"Curse on Tom!" he exclaimed. "He shall smart for this mischief."

"Don't be so unmanly as to punish a poor servant for mentioning a
piece of news that interested the whole plantation, and which must of
course be a matter of notoriety," she replied very quietly. "Both he
and Tulee were delicate enough to conceal it from me."

Fitzgerald felt embarrassed by her perfect self-possession. After a
slight pause, during which she kept her face averted from him, he
said: "I confess that appearances are against me, and that you have
reason to feel offended. But if you knew just how I was situated