the danger hanging over their heads.

An inventory of the property of the deceased was made out by Mr. Morton,
and placed in the hands of the creditors. These preliminaries being
arranged, the ladies, with their relative, concluded to leave the city
and reside for a few days on the banks of Lake Ponchartrain, where they
could enjoy a fresh air that the city did not afford. As they were
about taking the cars, however, an officer arrested the whole party--the
ladies as slaves, and the gentleman upon the charge of attempting to
conceal the property of his deceased brother. Mr. Morton was overwhelmed
with horror at the idea of his nieces being claimed as slaves, and asked
for time, that he might save them from such a fate. He even offered
to mortgage his little farm in Vermont for the amount which young
slave-women of their ages would fetch. But the creditors pleaded that
they were an "extra article," and would sell for more than common
slaves, and must therefore be sold at auction.

The uncle was therefore compelled to give them up to the officers of the
law, and they were separated from him. Jane, the oldest of the girls, as
we have before mentioned, was very handsome, bearing a close resemblance
to her cousin Clotelle. Alreka, though not as handsome as her sister,
was nevertheless a beautiful girl, and both had all the accomplishments
that wealth and station could procure.

Though only in her fifteen year, Alreka had become strongly attached to
Volney Lapie, a young Frenchman, a student in her father's office. This
attachment was reciprocated, although the poverty of the young man and
the extreme youth of the girl had caused their feelings to be kept from
the young lady's parents.

The day of sale came, and Mr. Morton attended, with the hope that either
the magnanimity of the creditors or his own little farm in Vermont might
save his nieces from the fate that awaited them. His hope, however, was
in vain. The feelings of all present seemed to be lost in the general
wish to become the possessor of the young ladies, who stood trembling,
blushing, and weeping as the numerous throng gazed at them, or as the
intended purchaser examined the graceful proportions of their fair and
beautiful frames. Neither the presence of the uncle nor young Lapie
could at all lessen the gross language of the officers, or stay the rude
hands of those who wishes to examine the property thus offered for sale.
After a fierce contest between the