w me in New Orleans. I will
change my name, and I promise not to bring discredit on any
recommendation you may give me."

"It is a plan filled with difficulties and dangers. What has moved you
to contemplate such sacrifices?"

"You, Madame!" The Marquise flushed slightly. "From the time you
talked to me I wanted to do something, be something better. But, you
know, it seemed no use; there was no need of me anywhere but in Paris.
That is all over. I can go now, and I have some information worth
taking to the Federal government. The South has commissioners here
now. I have learned all they have accomplished, and the people they
have interested, so if I had a little help--"

"You shall have it!" declared the Marquise. "I have been dying of
ennui. Your plan is a cure for me--better than a room full of
courtiers! But if I give you letters it must be to my lawyers in New
Orleans--clever, shrewd men--and I should have to trust you entirely,
remember."

"I shall not forget, Madame."

"Very good; come tomorrow. What can you do about an establishment such
as mine? Ladies maid? Housekeeper? Governess?"

"Any of those; but only governess to very small children."

"Come tomorrow. I shall have planned something by then. I have an
engagement in a few minutes, and have no more time today. By the way,
have you ever been in Georgia or South Carolina?"

Kora hesitated, and then said: "Yes, Madame."

"Have you any objection to going back there?"

The octoroon looked at her in a startled, suspicious way.

"I hesitate to reply to that, Madame, for reasons! I don't mind
telling you, though, that there is one place in America where I might
be claimed, if they knew me. I am not anxious to visit that place."

"Naturally! Tomorrow at eleven I will see you, and you can tell me all
about it. If I am to act as your protectress I must know all you can
tell me--_all_! It is the only way. I like the mystery and intrigue of
the whole affair. It promises new sensations. I will help you show
that government that you are willing to help your people. Come
tomorrow."

A few days later the Marquise set her new amusement on foot by bidding
adieu to a demure, dark eyed, handsome girl, who was garbed most
sedately, and whose letters of introduction pronounced her--oh,
sentiment or irony of women--Madame Louise Trouvelot, an attache of
the Caron establishment, commissioned by the Marquise to inspect the
dwellings on the Caron estate in New Orleans