e out
under the verandah to welcome us. Where should we find one of our
northern beauties who would turn out of her warm bed at six in the
morning, to welcome her papa and a stranger guest, and to keep hot
coffee ready for them, to counteract the bad effects of the morning air
on the river? Monsieur Menou, however, did not seem to find any thing
extraordinary in his daughter's early rising, but began enquiring if the
people had had their breakfasts, and were at work. On this and various
other subjects, Louise was able to give him all the information he
desired. She must have made astonishingly good use of the twenty-four
hours that had elapsed since her return home, to be versed in all
particulars concerning her sable liege subjects, and to be able to
relate so fluently how Cato had run a splinter into his foot, Pompey had
a touch of fever, and fifty other details, which, although doubtless
very interesting to Menou, made me gape a little. I amused myself by
looking round the dining-room, in which we then were, the furniture and
appearance of which rather improved my opinion of Creole civilization
and comfort. The matting that covered the floor was new and of an
elegant design--the sideboard solid and handsome, although prodigiously
old-fashioned--tables, chairs, and sofas were of French manufacture. On
the walls were suspended two or three engravings; not the fight at New
Orleans, or Perry and Bainbridge's victories over the British on
Champlain and Erie, but curiosities dating from the reigns of Louis the
Fifteenth and Sixteenth. There was a Frenchified air about the whole
room, nothing of the republic, the empire, or the restoration, but a
sort of odour of the genuine old royalist days.

By the time I had completed my inspection, Louise had answered all her
father's enquiries; and we went out to take a look at the exterior of
the house. It was snugly situated at the foot of a conical hillock, the
only elevation of any kind to be found for miles around. South, east,
and west, it was enclosed in a broad frame of acacia and cotton trees;
but to the north it lay open, the breath of Boreas being especially
acceptable in our climate. A rivulet, very bright and clear, at least
for Louisiana, poured its waters from the elevation before mentioned,
and supplied a tannery, which doubtless contributed much to the
healthiness of the neighbourhood. The house consisted of three parts,
built at different times by grandfather, father