rse,' he said, 'and I can do nothing for her. It
seems as if the presence of this slave girl has a baleful influence on
every one she approaches!'

"I looked at him wonderingly. Why had he opened that subject with me. I
had no wish to discuss it, even in reference to his mother. Before I
could answer him, General Harrington and the Eatons joined us, and we
all walked back to the hotel together.

"I went at once to Mrs. Harrington's room. She was lying on a couch near
the window, with her hands clasped, and her eyes closed; but I saw the
lids quivering, and discovered heavy tears dropping one by one, on the
cushion beneath her head.

"'Are you so ill,' I said, sitting down on the edge of the couch and
kissing her troubled forehead.

"'Ill!' she sobbed, lifting both arms toward my neck, like an unhappy
child, 'Oh Mabel, my heart is broken. I shall never, never be well
again!'

"She trembled all over, and seemed ready to go into convulsions in my
arms.

"'What is it,' I said. 'What could have happened to distress you so?'

"She looked into my face so helplessly, that my soul yearned toward her.

"'Tell me, oh tell me of the trouble, for it _is_ trouble, and nothing
else,' I said, holding her close in my arms, for I felt that we were
fellow-sufferers, and that my heart must ache with something more
painful than sympathy.

"She began to tremble again, and clung closer to me.

"'It was foolish. I did wrong, but who would have thought what would
follow. I--I saw him going toward that large tent, where the music was.
Zillah had gone in just before, while I was buying some embroidery of a
woman. You had all walked on--I wanted to speak with Zillah, and
followed him.'

"'Go on,' I said, as well as the pain at my heart would permit of
speech--for she stopped suddenly, and made a faint effort to leave the
clasp of my arms. 'Go on, you cannot feel this more than I do.'

"'Ah, you love me so, thank God for that.'

"'And you can trust me, I would not speak of this, dear friend, to a
living soul, not to save my own life.'

"'It is not that, Mabel, but I have loved him so,--been so proud of him.
Never, till this day, have I known what it was to suspect any one dear
to me. Now it is not suspicion, but certainty. He loves her, Mabel! My
own servant! I saw her clinging to his arm, while those wild girls were
dancing before them. I heard him tell her how much more beautiful she
was than any woman he had ever seen. Don't lo