Senator North

half-read letter. She had felt her face flush and her hand tremble, and escaped f

r ran as

DREW, VIRGINIA. To MI

take the little one. For the last ten years Harriet has lived here in the parsonage and has been the only child I have ever known,-a dearly beloved child. She has been carefully educated and is a lady in every sense of the word. I had until the last two years a little school, and she was my chief assistant. But the public school proved more attractive-and doubtless is more thorough-and this passed from me. Last year my wife died. Now I am going, and very rapidly. I have only just learned the nature of my illness, and I may be dead before you receive this letter. I write to beg you to receive your si

wealthy in your own right. Her future rests with you. Here in this village she can do absolutely nothing

dear

e and obd'

AM WA

She has letters in her posses

remembered vividly those two men in the church whose bearing expressed more forcibly than any words the canker that had blighted their manhood. And this girl bore no visible mark of the wrong that had been done her, and on

unspeakably inferior race, and they had been slaves for hundreds of years to the white man. To be sure, she loved the old family servants, and rarely said a harsh word to them, and it was a matter of indifference to her that they had been freed, as she had plenty of money to pay their wages. But that the negro should vote had always seemed to her incredible and monstrous, and she laughed to herself when she met on the

eless, helpless. She might have a mind as good as her own, be as well fitted to enjoy the higher pleasures of life. And she might have a beauty and a temperament which would be her ruin did her natural protectors tell her that she was a

hat. The girl had heart and an educated mind; her demands were subtle and complex. Senator Burleigh? He would laugh impatiently at her prejudices, and tell her that she ought to go out and live in the free fresh air of the West. They probably would qua

nd but sympathize with her, and she was sure he would give her wise counsel. She regretted bitterly that she had not be

should she of all women hesitate to demand a half-hour's time of any man? She needed advice, must have it: a decision should be reached in the next twenty-four hours. Not for a second did she admit that she was building up an excuse for the long-desired interview with Senator North. She was a woman confronted with a solemn problem. Her coupe was at the door; she had planned a morning's shopping. She ran upstairs and dressed herself for the street, wondering what order she would give the footman. She changed her mind hurr

he Capitol," she knew that her mind had made itself up in the momen

reached the familiar entrance to the Sena

r North's. She never had felt so nervous. She wondered if women felt this sudden terror of the outraged proprieties when hastening to a tryst of which the world must know nothing. And she was overwhelmed with the vivid

, for Senator North, he demanded her card. She happened to have one in her purse, and he went

a long table, a bookcase, and a number of leather chairs. Before he had

ld not have done me this honour. It is an honour, and as I told you before

l her imagination had pictured, and had not snubbed her in what she conceived to be the s

He let the storm pass, poked the already glow

f abruptly. "I have no right to take up your t

g to do for the next hour.

regarding her intently. It was impossible to say whether his

years, he looked anything but fatherly. Although there never was the slightest affectation of youth in his dress or manner, he suggested threescore years as little. So strong was

will help you to understand. I-But

ad it. When he had finished he put the eyeglasses in his pocket, folded the letter, and handed it to her. He had

keenly at her. "What are

But we Southerners feel so strongly on-on

r prejudices, and the strongest one is a part of us. And for the matter of that, the average American is no more anxious to marry a woman with negro blood in her than the Southerner

er who is white by accident only, and how torn I am between p

stand pe

roblem; my life has been so smooth and my trials so petty. It is too great a problem for me to solve by myself, and

ad. Spend several hours with the girl, and, if she is worth the trouble, bring her back with you and do all you can for her: it would be cruel and heartless to refuse her consolation if she is all this old man describes-and you are not cruel and heartless. And if this drop of black blood is abhorrent to you, think what it must be to

point-to be sure that y

that I can wipe her off the slate at once.

l and reasonable manner,-presupposing that you possess that highest attribute of civilization, common-sense,-no question will ever resolve itself into a problem. And difficulties usually disappear as the range o

et over the horror of

ks. If she lacked a nose, you would as soon cease to remember it. If this girl is

your advice. I did not come here to trouble you for n

her after that. You will have but one duty further. If she wishes to marry, you must tell the man the truth, if she will not. Don't hesitate on that poin

her hand in both of his. She felt an almost irresistible desire

your admirable intelligence. This is practically your first trial, the first time you have been called upon to make a decision which, either way, is bound to have a strong

a sigh; and in truth she did, and her new-found

he added, and then he dropped her hand and walked to the d

shall have been through a good deal between now and

come,"

en, and my cousin, Jack Emory, have gone home-there wil

alf-past four," he sai