claim to her relationship with
the Anglo-Saxon. In her younger days, Agnes had been a housekeeper for
a young slave-holder, and in sustaining this relation had become the
mother of two daughters. After being cast aside by this young man,
the slave-woman betook herself to the business of a laundress, and was
considered to be the most tasteful woman in Richmond at her vocation.

Isabella and Marion, the two daughters of Agnes, resided with their
mother, and gave her what aid they could in her business. The mother,
however, was very choice of her daughters, and would allow them to
perform no labor that would militate against their lady-like appearance.
Agnes early resolved to bring up her daughters as ladies, as she termed
it.

As the girls grew older, the mother had to pay a stipulated price for
them per month. Her notoriety as a laundress of the first class enabled
her to put an extra charge upon the linen that passed through her hands;
and although she imposed little or no work upon her daughters, she was
enabled to live in comparative luxury and have her daughters dressed to
attract attention, especially at the negro balls and parties.

Although the term "negro ball" is applied to these gatherings, yet a
large portion of the men who attend them are whites. Negro balls and
parties in the Southern States, especially in the cities and towns, are
usually made up of quadroon women, a few negro men, and any number of
white gentlemen. These are gatherings of the most democratic character.
Bankers, merchants, lawyers, doctors, and their clerks and students, all
take part in these social assemblies upon terms of perfect equality. The
father and son not unfrequently meet and dance _vis a vis_ at a negro
ball.

It was at one of these parties that Henry Linwood, the son of a wealthy
and retired gentleman of Richmond, was first introduced to Isabella, the
oldest daughter of Agnes. The young man had just returned from Harvard
College, where he had spent the previous five years. Isabella was in
her eighteenth year, and was admitted by all who knew her to be the
handsomest girl, colored or white, in the city. On this occasion, she
was attired in a sky-blue silk dress, with deep black lace flounces,
and bertha of the same. On her well-moulded arms she wore massive gold
bracelets, while her rich black hair was arranged at the back in broad
basket plaits, ornamented with pearls, and the front in the French style
(_a la Imperatrice_)