let me tell you that I have proofs that I am the only surviving Ichild of that same Mr. and Mrs. Berwick who were lost more than fourteen years ago in a steamboat explosion on the Mississippi."

"Proofs ? You have proofs ? Impossible! they?"

What are

"That I do not choose to tell you. Only I warn you that the proofs exist, and that you are lending yourself to a fraud in helping your client to hold me as a slave."

66

'My dear young lady, don't encourage such wild, romantic dreams. Some one, for a wicked purpose, has put them into your head. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Berwick was lost with them, as was clearly proved on the trial that grew out of the disaster, and their large property passed into the possession of a distant connection."

"But what if the story of the child's loss was a lie, - what if she was saved, then kidnapped, then sold as a slave?

What if she now stands before you?"

"As a lawyer I must say, I don't see it. And even if it were all true, what an incalculable advantage the man who has millions in possession will have over any claimant who can't offer a respectable fee in advance! Who holds the pursestrings, wins. "T is an invariable rule, my child."

"God will defend the right, Mr. Semmes; and I advise you to range yourself on his side forthwith."

"It would n't do for me to desert my client. That would be grossly unprofessional."

"Even if satisfied your client was in the wrong?"

"My dear young lady, that's just the predicament where a lawyer's services are most needed. What can I do for you?" Nothing, for I'm not in the wrong. My cause is that of justice and humanity. You cannot serve it."

66

"In that remark you wound my amour propre. Now let me put the case for my client: Accidentally attending an auction he buys an infant slave. He brings her up tenderly and well. He spares no expense in her education. No sooner does she

reach a marriageable age, than, discarding all gratitude for his kindness, she runs away. He discovers her, and she is brought to his house. His wife dying, he proposes to marry and eman

cipate this ungrateful young woman. Instead of being touched by his generosity, she plots to baffle and disappoint him. Who could blame him if he were to put her up at auction to-morrow and sell her to the highest bidder?"

"If you speak in sincerity, sir, then you are, morally considered, blind as an owl; if in raillery, then you are cruel as a wolf."

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My dear young lady, you show in your every remark that you are a cultivated person; that you are naturally clever, and that education has added its polish. How charming it would be to see one so gifted and accomplished placed in that position of wealth and rank which she would so well adorn ! There must never be unpleasant words between me and the future Mrs. Ratcliff,- never!"

-

"Then, sir, you're safe, however angrily I may speak.”

"Your pin-money alone, my dear young lady, will be enough to support half a dozen ordinary families."

Clara made no reply, and Semmes continued: "Think of it! First, the tour of Europe in princely style; then a return to the most splendid establishment in Louisiana!"

"Well, sir, if your eloquence is exhausted, you can do me a favor."

"What is it, my dear young lady?"

"Leave the room."

"Certainly. By the way, I expect Mr. Ratcliff any hour

now."

"I thought he was in Fort Lafayette!" replied Clara, trying to steady her voice and conceal her agitation.

"No. He succeeded in escaping. His letter is dated Richmond."

Clara made no reply, and the old lawyer passed out, muttering: "Poor little simpleton. 'Tis only a freak. No woman in her senses could resist such an offer. She 'll thank me one of these days for my anæsthetic practice."

CHAPTER XXXIX.

SEEING IS BELIEVING.

"It is a very obvious principle, although often forgotten in the pride of prejudice and of controversy, that what has been seen by one pair of human eyes is of force to countervail all that has been reasoned or guessed at by a thousand human understandings." Rev. Thomas Chalmers.

W

the gar

HEN, after some detention, Esha returned to den, and could not see Clara, she ran up-stairs and sought her in all the rooms. Then returning to the garden she looked in the summer-house, in the grape-arbor, everywhere without avail. Suddenly she caught sight of a small black girl, a sort of under-drudge in the kitchen, who was standing with mouth distended, showing her white teeth, and grinning at Esha's discomfiture. It was the work of a moment

for Esha to seize the hussy, drag her into the wash-house, and by the aid of certain squeezings, liberally applied to her cervical vertebræ, to compel her to extrude the fact that Missie Clara had been forcibly carried off by two men, and placed in a carriage, which had been driven fast away.

When Esha communicated this startling information to Madame Volney, the wrath of the latter was terrible to behold. It was well for Lawyer Semmes that his good stars kept him that moment from encountering the quadroon lady, else a sudden stop might have been put to his professional usefulness.

After she had recovered from her first shock of anger, she asked: "Why has n't Peek been here these five days?" "'Cause he 'cluded 't wan't safe," replied Esha. "He seed ole Semmes war up ter su'thin, an' so he keep dark." "Well, Esha, we must see Peek. You know where he lives?"

"Yes, Missis, but we mus' be car'ful 'bout lettin' anybody foller us."

"We can look out for that. Come! Let us start at once." The two women sallied forth into the street, and proceeded

some distance, Esha looking frequently behind with a caution that proved to be not ill-timed. Suddenly she darted across the street, and going up to a negro-boy who stood looking with an air of profound interest at some snuff-boxes and pipes in the window of a tobacconist, 'seized him by the wool of his head and pulled him towards a carriage-stand, where she accosted a colored driver of her acquaintance, and said: “Look har, Jube, you jes put dis little debble ob a spy on de box wid yer, and gib him a twenty minutes' dribe, an' den take him to Massa Ratcliff's, open de door, an' pitch him in, an' I'll gib yer half a dollar ef yer 'll do it right off an' ahx no questions; an' ef he dars ter make a noise you jes put yer fingers har, -dy'e see, and pinch his win'pipe tight. Doan let him git away on no account whatsomebber."

"Seein' as how jobs air scarss, Esha, doan' car ef I do; so hahnd him up."

seat.

Esha lifted the boy so that Jube could seize him by the slack of his breeches and pull him howling on to the driver's Then promising a faithful compliance with Esha's orders, he received the half-dollar with a grin, and drove off. Rejoining Madame Volney, Esha conducted her through lanes and by-streets till they stopped before the house occupied by Peek. He was at home, and asked them in.

"Are you sure you were n't followed?" was his first inquiry. Esha replied by narrating the summary proceedings she had taken to get rid of the youth who had evidently been put as a spy on her track.

"Remember

"That was well done, Esha," said Peek. you've got the sharpest kind of an old lawyer to deal with; and you must skin your eyes tight if you 'spect to 'scape being tripped."

"Wish I'd thowt ob dat dis mornin', Peek; for ole Semmes has jes done his wustest, carried off dat darlin' chile, Miss

Clara."

Peek could hardly suppress a groan at the news.

"Now what's to be done?" said Madame Volney.

"Think

of something quickly, or I shall go mad. That smooth-tongued Semmes, O that I had the old scoundrel here in my grip! Can't you find out where he has taken that dear child?"

"That will be difficult, I fear," said Peek; "difficult for the reason that Semmes will be on the alert to baffle us. He will of course conclude that some of us will be on his track. He would turn any efforts we might make to dog him directly against us, arresting us when we thought ourselves most secure, just as the boy-detective was arrested by Esha."

"But what if Ratcliff should return?"

"That's what disturbs me; for the papers say he has escaped."

"Then he may be here any moment?"

"For that we must be prepared."

She

"But that is horrible! I pledged my word-my very life - that the poor child should be saved from his clutches. must be saved! Money can do it, — can't it?"

"Brains can do it better."

"Let both be used. Is not this a case where some medium can help us? Why not consult Bender?"

So

"There is, perhaps, one chance in a hundred that he might guide us aright," said Peek. "That chance I will try, but I have little hope he will find her. During the years I have been searching for my wife I have now and then sought information about her from clairvoyants; but always without success. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. with these spiritual doings. Look for them, and you don't find them. Don't look, and they come. I once knew a colored boy, a medium, who was lifted to the ceiling before my eyes in the clear moonlight. A white man offered him a hundred dollars if he would show him the same thing; but it could n't be. No sooner had the white man gone than the boy was lifted, while the rest of us were not expecting it, and carried backward and forward through the air for a full minute. Seeing is believing."

"But we've no time for talking, Peek. We must act. How shall we act?"

"Can you give me any article of apparel which Miss Clara has recently worn, a glove, for instance ?”

"Yes, that can easily be got."

"Send it to me at once. Send also a glove which the lawyer Do not let the two come in contact. And be careful - your messenger is not tracked."

has worn.