to prove my identity.  These would vouch for me as a gentleman, and yield me a measure of authority.  And this fact, once established, ought to give me sufficient standing in the eyes of those girls to compel from them a respectful hearing.  I would tell the story exactly as I knew it, concealing nothing, and adding no unnecessary word, outline my plan of action, and then leave them to decide what they thought best to do.  This was the simple, sensible way, and I had implicit faith that they would accept my statement, and believe my offer of assistance an honest one.  I could not perceive how they could do otherwise.  Strange, unbelievable as the situation was, proof was not lacking.  Delia could be compelled to acknowledge that Rene was her child—­she would scarcely dare deny this truth in face of my positive knowledge—­and she, at least, must know that Judge Beaucaire had never during his lifetime given her her freedom.  This fact could be established beyond question, and then they must surely all comprehend the necessity of immediate flight—­that there remained no other possible means of escape from hopeless slavery.  Desperate as the chance appeared, it was the only one.

It was a disagreeable, heart-rending task which I had taken upon myself, but it could be no longer avoided.  It dawned upon me now with more intense force than ever before the position in which I stood, and I shrank from the ordeal.  A perfect stranger, not even a chance acquaintance of those directly involved in this tragedy, I would have to drag out from the closet, where it had been hidden away for years, this old Beaucaire skeleton, and rattle the dried bones of dishonor before the horrified understanding of these two innocent, unsuspecting girls.  I knew nothing of their characters, or of how they would meet such a revelation, and yet they must be made to see, and thoroughly comprehend the situation; must be compelled to face the horror and disgrace of their position, and aroused to action.  I had little thought then for the slave mother; doubtless she had been expecting some such exposure for years, and was, at least, partially steeled to meet it.  But for the two girls, brought up as sisters, close companions since infancy, having no previous suspicion of the dreadful truth, this sudden revelation would be worse than death.  Yet now concealment would be no kindness; indeed, the tenderest mercy I could show was to tell them in all frankness the whole miserable story of crime and neglect; and then point out to them the only remaining means of escape from the consequence of others’ sins.

These thoughts, definite and compelling, flashed through my mind as I stood there in the darkness, vainly seeking to distinguish the distant outlines of the great house, from one window alone of which the glow of light streamed.  In that moment of decision the conviction came to me that I had best do this alone; that the presence of the negro would hinder, rather than help the solution of the problem.  I must appeal directly to the intelligence, the courage, of those so deeply involved, and trust my own personality to win their confidence.  In this the negro would be useless.