good master, whom he would elevate high above the cruel laws he is born and educated to observe.  With gratitude and affection does he recur to the generous Rosebrooks; he would hold them forth as an example to the slave world, and emblazon their works on the pages of history, as proof of what can be done.  Bright in his eventful life, was the day, when, about to take his departure from the slave world, he bid the Rosebrooks a long, long good by.  He vividly remembers how hope seemed lighting up the prospect before him-how good missus shook his hand so motherly-how kindly she spoke to Jane, and how fondly she patted his little ones on the head.  “The Rosebrooks,” says our restored clergyman, “have nothing to fear save the laws of the state, which may one day make tyrranny crumble beneath its own burden.”

CHAPTER XLVIII.

In which the fate of Franconia is seen.

The reader may remember that in a former chapter we left Annette and Franconia, in company of the stranger, on board the steamer for Wilmington, swiftly gliding on her course.  Four bells struck as the surging craft cleared the headlands and shaped her course.  The slender invalid, so neat of figure, and whose dress exhibited so much good taste, has been suddenly transformed into a delicate girl of some seventeen summers.  As night spreads its shadows over the briny scene, and the steaming craft surges onward over rolling swells, this delicate girl may be seen emerging from her cabin confines, leaning on Franconia’s arm as she approaches the promenade deck.  Her fawn-coloured dress, setting as neatly as it is chastefully cut, displays a rounded form nicely compact; and, together with a drawn bonnet of green silk, simply arranged, and adding to her fair oval face an air of peculiar delicacy, present her with personal attractions of no ordinary character.  And then her soft blue eyes, and her almost golden hair, hanging in thick wavy folds over her carnatic cheeks, add to the symmetry of her features that sweetness which makes modesty more fascinating.  And though she has been but a slave, there is a glow of gentleness pervading her countenance, over which a playful smile now sheds a glow of vivacity, as if awakening within her bosom new hopes of the future.

The suddenness with which they embarked served to confuse and dispel all traces of recognition; and even the stranger, as they advanced toward him, hesitated ere he greeted Annette and extended his hand.  But they soon joined in conversation, promenaded and mingled with the passengers.  Cautious not to enter the main cabin, they remained, supperless, on the upper deck, until near midnight.  That social prejudice which acts like a crushing weight upon the slave’s mind was no longer to deaden her faculties; no, she seemed like a new being, as, with childish simplicity, her soul bounded forth in rhapsody of praise and thankfulness.  Holding Franconia by the hand, she would kiss her, fondle her head on her bosom, and continue to recount the pleasure she anticipated when meeting her long-lost mother.  “They’ll sell me no more, Franconia, will they?” she would exclaim, looking enquiringly in her face.