The young man, clad in the armor of an honest purpose, did not feel the point of the arrow, and answered quietly:  “They are very charming.  I saw them for a few hours only, and never expect to see them again.  Their father and mine were very intimate friends, and I feel it a duty to protect them from misfortune if possible.”  When the business was completed, and they had exchanged parting salutations, he turned back to say, “Do you happen to know anything of Mr. Fitzgerald of Savannah?”

“I never had any acquaintance with him,” replied Mr. Talbot; “but he has the name of being something of a roue, and rather fond of cards.”

“Can the death of Floracita be apocryphal?” thought Alfred.  “Could he be capable of selling her?  No.  Surely mortal man could not wrong that artless child.”

He returned to his lodgings, feeling more fatigued and dispirited than usual.  He had done all that was possible for the welfare of the woman who had first inspired him with love; but O, what would he not have given for such an opportunity as Fitzgerald had!  He was obliged to confess to himself that the utter annihilation of his hope was more bitter than he had supposed it would be.  He no longer doubted that he would have married her if he could, in full view of all her antecedents, and even with his mother’s prejudices to encounter.  He could not, however, help smiling at himself, as he thought:  “Yet how very different she was from what I had previously resolved to choose!  How wisely I have talked to young men about preferring character to beauty!  And lo!  I found myself magnetized at first sight by mere beauty!”

But manly pride rebelled against the imputation of such weakness.  “No, it was not mere outward beauty,” he said to himself.  “True, I had no opportunity of becoming acquainted with the qualities of her soul, but her countenance unmistakably expressed sweetness, modesty, and dignity, and the inflexions of her voice were a sure guaranty for refinement.”

With visions of past and future revolving round him, he fell asleep and dreamed he saw Rosabella alone on a plank, sinking in a tempestuous sea.  Free as he thought himself from superstition, the dream made an uncomfortable impression on him, though he admitted that it was the natural sequence of his waking thoughts.

CHAPTER XV.

Rosa came out of her swoon in a slow fever accompanied with delirium.  Tulee was afraid to leave her long enough to go to the plantation in search of Tom; and having no medicines at hand, she did the best thing that could have been done.  She continually moistened the parched tongue with water, and wiped the hot skin with wet cloths.  While she was doing this, tears fell on her dear young mistress, lying there so broken and helpless, talking incoherently about her father and Floracita, about being a slave and being sold.  This continued eight or ten days, during which she