hite man, that she could strike him. But when he
said, "Tulee, how is your mistress?" she civilly answered, "Better,
Massa."

He passed softly into Rosa's room. She was lying on the bed, in a
loose white robe, over which fell the long braids of her dark hair.
The warm coloring had entirely faded from her cheeks, leaving only
that faintest reflection of gold which she inherited from her mother;
and the thinness and pallor of her face made her large eyes seem
larger and darker. They were open, but strangely veiled; as if shadows
were resting on the soul, like fogs upon a landscape. When Gerald bent
over her, she did not see him, though she seemed to be looking at him.
He called her by the tenderest names; he cried out in agony, "O Rosa,
speak to me, darling!" She did not hear him. He had never before been
so deeply moved. He groaned aloud, and, covering his face with his
hands, he wept.

When Tulee, hearing the sound, crept in to see whether all was well
with her mistress, she found him in that posture. She went out
silently, but when she was beyond hearing she muttered to herself,
"Ise glad he's got any human feelin'."

After the lapse of a few moments, he came to her, saying, "O Tulee, do
you think she's going to die? Couldn't a doctor save her?"

"No, Massa, I don't believe she's going to die," replied Tulee; "but
she'll be very weak for a great while. I don't think all the doctors
in the world could do poor Missy Rosy any good. It's her soul that's
sick, Massa; and nobody but the Great Doctor above can cure that."

Her words cut him like a knife; but, without any attempt to excuse the
wrong he had done, he said: "I am going to Savannah for the winter. I
will leave Tom and Chloe at the plantation, with instructions to do
whatever you want done. If I am needed, you can send Tom for me."

The melancholy wreck he had seen saddened him for a day or two; those
eyes, with their mysterious expression of somnambulism, haunted him,
and led him to drown uncomfortable feelings in copious draughts of
wine. But, volatile as he was impressible, the next week saw him the
gayest of the gay in parties at Savannah, where his pretty little
bride was quite the fashion.

At the cottage there was little change, except that Chloe, by
her master's permission, became a frequent visitor. She was an
affectionate, useful creature, with good voice and ear, and a little
wild gleam of poetry in her fervid eyes. When she saw Rosa lying there