and wanting to consult with Joe about
selling the rosin, I went to Mobile. It was five weeks ago. I arrived
there about dark, and put up at the Battle House. Joe had boarded there.
I was told he had left, and gone to housekeeping. A negro conducted me
to a small house in the outskirts of the town. He said Joe lived there.
Wishing to surprise him, I went in without knocking. The house had two
parlors, separated by folding doors. In the back one a young woman was
clearing away the tea things; in the front one, Joe was seated by the
fire, with a young child on his knee. I put my hand on his shoulder, and
said: 'Joe, whose child have you here?' He looked up, and laughingly
said: 'Why, father, you ought to know; you've seen it before!' I looked
closely at it--it was Rosey's! I said so. 'Yes, father,' he replied;
'and there's Rosey herself. Larkin promised she should have a kind
master, and--he kept his word.' The truth flashed upon me--the child was
his! My only son had seduced his _own sister_! I staggered back in
horror. I told him who Rosey was, and then'--no words can express the
intense agony depicted on his face as he said this--'then he cursed me!
O my God! HE CURSED ME!'

I pitied him, I could but pity him; and I said:

'Do not be so cast down, my friend. I once heard you say: 'The Lord is
good. His mercy is everlasting!''

'But he cannot have mercy on some!' he cried. '_My_ sins have been too
great; they cannot be blotted out. I embittered the life of my wife; I
have driven my daughter from her home; sold my own child; made my
generous, noble-hearted boy do a horrible crime--a crime that will
haunt him forever. Oh! the curse of God is on me. My misery is greater
than I can bear.'

'No, my friend; God curses none of his creatures. You have reaped what
you have sown, that is all; but you have suffered enough. Better things,
believe me, are in store for you.'

'No, no; everything is gone--wife, children, all! I am alone--the past,
nothing but remorse; the future, ruin and dishonor!'

'But Selly is left you. _She_ will always love you.'

'No, no! Even Selly would curse me, if she knew _all_!'

No one spoke for a full half hour, and he continued pacing up and down
the room. When, at last, he seated himself, more composed, I asked:

'What became of Rosey and the child?'

'I do not know. I was shut in my room for several days. When I got out,
I was told Joe had freed her, and she had disappeared, no one knew
wh