f habitual good temper.

Opposite to him, and presiding at the tea-tray, sat a lady of marked
beauty. The first thing that would have attracted attention on seeing her
were her gloriously dark eyes. They were not entirely black, but of that
seemingly changeful hue so often met with in persons of African extraction,
which deepens and lightens with every varying emotion. Hers wore a subdued
expression that sank into the heart and at once riveted those who saw her.
Her hair, of jetty black, was arranged in braids; and through her
light-brown complexion the faintest tinge of carmine was visible. As she
turned to take her little girl from the arms of the servant, she displayed
a fine profile and perfectly moulded form. No wonder that ten years before,
when she was placed upon the auction-block at Savanah, she had brought so
high a price. Mr. Garie had paid two thousand dollars for her, and was the
envy of all the young bucks in the neighbourhood who had competed with him
at the sale. Captivated by her beauty, he had esteemed himself fortunate in
becoming her purchaser; and as time developed the goodness of her heart,
and her mind enlarged through the instructions he assiduously gave her, he
found the connection that might have been productive of many evils, had
proved a boon to both; for whilst the astonishing progress she made in her
education proved her worthy of the pains he took to instruct her, she
returned threefold the tenderness and affection he lavished upon her.

The little girl in her arms, and the boy at her side, showed no trace
whatever of African origin. The girl had the chestnut hair and blue eyes of
her father; but the boy had inherited the black hair and dark eyes of his
mother. The critically learned in such matters, knowing his parentage,
might have imagined they could detect the evidence of his mother's race, by
the slightly mezzo-tinto expression of his eyes, and the rather African
fulness of his lips; but the casual observer would have passed him by
without dreaming that a drop of negro blood coursed through his veins. His
face was expressive of much intelligence, and he now seemed to listen with
an earnest interest to the conversation that was going on between his
father and a dark-complexioned gentleman who sat beside him.

"And so you say, Winston, that they never suspected you were coloured?"

"I don't think they had the remotest idea of such a thing. At least, if
they did, they must have conquere