Mr. Seabrook returns to the mansion, and consoles the anxious lady by assuring her the children have been saved from the hands of obnoxious traders-sold to a good, country deacon.  He was so delighted with their appearance that he could not keep from admiring them, and does not wonder the good lady took so great an interest in their welfare.  He knows the ministerial-looking gentleman who bought them is a kind master; he has an acute knowledge of human nature, and judges from his looks.  And he will further assure the good lady that the auctioneer proved himself a gentleman-every inch of him!  He wouldn’t take a single bid from a trader, not even from old Graspum (he dreads to come in contact with such a brute as he is, when he gets his eye on a good piece o’ nigger property), with all his money.  As soon as he heard the name of a deacon among the bidders, something in his heart forbade his bidding against him.

“You were not as good as your word, Mr. Seabrook,” says the good lady, still holding Mr. Seabrook by the hand.  “But, are you sure there was no disguise about the sale?”

“Not the least, madam!” interrupts Mr. Seabrook, emphatically.  “Bless me, madam, our people are too sensitive not to detect anything of that kind; and too generous to allow it if they did discover it.  The children-my heart feels for them-are in the very best hands; will be brought up just as pious and morally.  Can’t go astray in the hands of a deacon-that’s certain!” Mr. Seabrook rubs his hands, twists his fingers in various ways, and gives utterance to words of consolation, most blandly.  The anxious lady seems disappointed, but is forced to accept the assurance.

We need scarcely tell the reader how intentionally Mr. Seabrook contented himself with the deception practised at the mart, nor with what freedom he made use of that blandest essence of southern assurance,—­extreme politeness, to deceive the lady.  She, however, had long been laudably engaged in behalf of a down-trodden race; and her knowledge of the secret workings of an institution which could only cover its monstrosity with sophistry and fraud impressed her with the idea of some deception having been practised.  She well knew that Mr. Seabrook was one of those very contented gentlemen who have strong faith in the present, and are willing to sacrifice the future, if peace and plenty be secured to their hands.  He had many times been known to listen to the advice of his confidential slaves, and even to yield to their caprices.  And, too, he had been known to decry the ill-treatment of slaves by brutal and inconsiderate masters; but he never thinks it worth while to go beyond expressing a sort of rain-water sympathy for the maltreated.  With those traits most prominent in his character, Annette and Nicholas were to him mere merchandise; and whatever claims to freedom they might have, through the acknowledgments of a father, he could give them no consideration, inasmuch as the law was paramount, and the great conservator of the south.