of
cards."

"Can the death of Floracita be apocryphal?" thought Alfred. "Could he
be capable of selling her? No. Surely mortal man could not wrong that
artless child."

He returned to his lodgings, feeling more fatigued and dispirited than
usual. He had done all that was possible for the welfare of the woman
who had first inspired him with love; but O, what would he not have
given for such an opportunity as Fitzgerald had! He was obliged to
confess to himself that the utter annihilation of his hope was more
bitter than he had supposed it would be. He no longer doubted that
he would have married her if he could, in full view of all her
antecedents, and even with his mother's prejudices to encounter. He
could not, however, help smiling at himself, as he thought: "Yet how
very different she was from what I had previously resolved to choose!
How wisely I have talked to young men about preferring character to
beauty! And lo! I found myself magnetized at first sight by mere
beauty!"

But manly pride rebelled against the imputation of such weakness. "No,
it was not mere outward beauty," he said to himself. "True, I had no
opportunity of becoming acquainted with the qualities of her soul,
but her countenance unmistakably expressed sweetness, modesty, and
dignity, and the inflexions of her voice were a sure guaranty for
refinement."

With visions of past and future revolving round him, he fell
asleep and dreamed he saw Rosabella alone on a plank, sinking in a
tempestuous sea. Free as he thought himself from superstition, the
dream made an uncomfortable impression on him, though he admitted that
it was the natural sequence of his waking thoughts.

CHAPTER XV.

Rosa came out of her swoon in a slow fever accompanied with delirium.
Tulee was afraid to leave her long enough to go to the plantation in
search of Tom; and having no medicines at hand, she did the best thing
that could have been done. She continually moistened the parched
tongue with water, and wiped the hot skin with wet cloths. While she
was doing this, tears fell on her dear young mistress, lying there
so broken and helpless, talking incoherently about her father and
Floracita, about being a slave and being sold. This continued eight or
ten days, during which she never seemed to recognize Tulee's presence,
or to be conscious where she was. She was never wild or troublesome,
but there were frequent restless motions, and signs of being afraid
of someth