ork Lily, late servant of Josephine St. Auban, assumed
a certain prominence, this being given to her not wholly with
wisdom. Although but little negro blood remained in her veins,
this former slave had not risen above the life that had surrounded
her. Ignorant, emotional, at times working herself into a frenzy
of religious zeal, she was farthest of all from being a sober judge
or a fair-minded agent for the views of others. Yet in time her
two guardians, Carlisle and Kammerer, unwisely allowed her more and
more liberty. She was even, in times of great hurry, furnished
funds to go upon trips of investigation for herself, as one best
fitted to judge of the conditions of her people. As to these
details, Josephine St. Auban knew little. There was enough to
occupy her mind at the center of these affairs, where labors grew
rapidly and quite beyond her original plan.
As is always the case in such hopeless enterprises, the expenses
multiplied beyond belief. True, contributions came meagerly from
the North, here and there some abolitionist appearing who would do
something besides write and preach. In all, more than a half
million dollars was spent before the end of the year 1851. Then,
swiftly and without warning, there came the end.
One morning, almost a year after her return to Washington,
Josephine St. Auban sat in her apartments, looking at a long
document inscribed in a fine, foreign hand. It was the report of
the agent of her estates in Prance and Hungary. As she read it the
lines blurred before her eyes. It demanded an effort even of her
superb courage fairly to face and meet the meaning. In fact, it
was this: The revolution of Louis Napoleon of 1851 had resulted in
the confiscation of many estates in France, all her own included.
As though by concert among the monarchies of Europe, the heavy hand
of confiscation fell, in this nation and in that. The thrones of
the Old World are not supported by revolutionists; nor are
revolutionists supported by the occupants of thrones. Her
Hungarian lands had followed those which she had owned in France.
The rents of her estates no longer could be collected. Her
revenues were absolutely gone. Moreover, she herself was an exile.
[Illustration: She herself was an exile.]
Thus, then, had her high-blown hopes come to an end. It was proof
of the splendid courage of the woman that she shed not a tear. Not
a lash trembled as presently she turned to despatch a messa
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