for her sister's sadness--something to cheer their
common father. There is also the excitement attendant on the industries
of the hour--the cares of the cotton-planting, with speculations about
the success of the crop--these, with a hundred like thoughts and things,
hinder him from so frequently recurring to, or so long dwelling on, that
which can but cruelly distress.

It is the night succeeding that in which the mestizo made his private
pyrotechnic display; and Colonel Armstrong with his future son-in-law is
seated in the former refectory of the mission, which they have converted
into a decent dining-room.

They are not alone, or, as in French phraseology better expressed, _chez
eux memes_. Six or seven of their fellow-colonists of the better class
share the saloon with them--these being guests whom they have invited to
dinner.

The meal is over, the hour touching ten, the ladies have retired from
the table, only the gentlemen remain, drinking choice claret, which
Dupre, a sort of Transatlantic Lucullus, has brought with him from his
Louisiana wine bins.

Armstrong himself, being of Scotch ancestry, has the national preference
for whisky punch; and a tumbler of this beverage--the best in the
world--stands on the table before him. His glass has been filled three
times, and is as often emptied.

It need not be said, at this moment he is not sad. After three tumblers
of whisky toddy no man can help being hilarious; and so is it with
Colonel Armstrong. Seated at the head of his dining-table, the steaming
punch before him, he converses with his guests, gay as the gayest. For
a time their conversation is on general topics; but at length changes to
one more particular. Something said has directed their attention to a
man, who waited upon them at table, now no longer in the room.

The individual thus honoured is Dupre's confidential servant Fernand;
who, as already said, is house-steward, butler, _factotum_ of affairs
generally.

As is usual with such grand dignitaries, he has withdrawn simultaneously
with the removal of the tablecloth, leaving a deputy to look to the
decanting of the wine. Therefore, there is nothing remarkable in his
disappearance; nor would aught be observed about it, but for a remark
made by one of the guests during the course of conversation. A young
surgeon, who has cast in his lot with the new colony, is he who starts
the topic, thus introducing it:--

"Friend Dupre, where did you ge