rpose. She
has my deepest sympathy and respect, and shall have every help and
alleviation that I can afford her."

The hearing him say that, and the seeing how sincerely he meant what he
said, was the first gleam of comfort in the dreadful affliction that had
befallen us. I felt this; I felt a burning anger against the wretch who
had done her best to ruin my mistress's fair name and mine, but in every
other respect I was like a man who had been stunned, and whose faculties
had not perfectly recovered from the shock. Mr. Philip was obliged to
remind me that time was of importance, and that I had better give myself
up immediately, on the merciful terms which his kindness offered to me.
I acknowledged that, and wished him good morning. But a mist seemed to
come over my eyes as I turned round to go away--a mist that prevented me
from finding my way to the door. Mr. Philip opened it for me, and said a
friendly word or two which I could hardly hear. The man waiting outside
took me to his companion in the carriage at the door, and I was driven
away, a prisoner for the first time in my life.

On our way to the justice's, what little thinking faculty I had left
in me was all occupied in the attempt to trace a motive for the
inconceivable treachery and falsehood of which Josephine had been
guilty.

Her words, her looks, and her manner, on that unfortunate day when my
mistress so far forget herself as to strike, her, came back dimly to my
memory, and led to the inference that part of the motive, at least, of
which I was in search, might be referred to what had happened on that
occasion. But was this the only reason for her devilish vengeance
against my mistress? And, even if it were so, what fancied injuries had
I done her? Why should I be included in the false accusation? In the
dazed state of my faculties at that time, I was quite incapable of
seeking the answer to these questions. My mind was clouded all over, and
I gave up the attempt to clear it in despair.

I was brought before Mr. Robert Nicholson that day, and the fiend of a
quadroon was examined in my presence. The first sight of her face, with
its wicked self-possession, with its smooth leering triumph, so sickened
me that I turned my head away and never looked at her a second time
throughout the proceedings. The answers she gave amounted to a mere
repetition of the deposition to which she had already sworn. I listened
to her with the most breathless attention, and w