"War dar eber sprightlier nigs dan dese, massa Kirke? Doan't dey beat you' country folks all holler?"

"Yes, they do, Joe; they handle their heels as nimbly as elephants."

I spoke the truth; most of them did.

The distribution of the presents was resumed; and, as each negro received his full supply of flour, sugar, tea, coffee, molasses, tobacco, and calico, grinning with joy over his new acquisitions, he staggered off to his quarters. When the last box was nearly emptied, with young Preston and Frank, I adjourned to the mansion.

The exterior of the "great house" was unchanged, but its interior had undergone a complete transformation. The plain oak flooring of the hall had been replaced by porcelain tiling, and the neat, simple furniture of the parlours by huge mirrors; rosewood and brocatelle sofas and lounges; velvet tapestry carpets, in which one's feet sank almost out of sight; and immense paintings, whose aggregate cost might have paid off one-half of the mortgage that encumbered the plantation.

Selma and her father were engaged in earnest conversation when we entered the drawing-room, and, being unwilling to interrupt them, I was about to retire, but he rose, and said"Come in, Kirke; I will call Mrs Preston. She will be glad to see you.'

The lady soon entered. It was eight years since we had met, but time had touched her gently. Her face wore its old, decided, yet quiet expression, and her manner shewed the easy self-possession I had noticed at our first interview. She was richly dressed, and had on a heavy satin pelisse, and a blue-velvet bonnet, as if about to ride out.

When the usual greetings were over, she remarked"You have been here some time, sir?"

"Yes, madam; we arrived about two hours ago; but I met some old friends outside, and the pleasure of seeing them has made me a little tardy in paying my respects to you.' "The negroes, you mean, sir," she replied, with a slight toss of the head, and a look of cool dignity which well became her.

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'Yes, madam; I have many friends among the blacks. On some plantations they look for my coming as they do for Christmas."

"It is quite rare to meet a white gentleman so fond of negroes, " she rejoined, with an air slightly more super

cilious.

I remembered her as the humble schoolmistress, whose

entire possessions were packed in one trunk; and, forgetting myself, said, in a tone which bore a slight trace of indig nation

"More rare, I fear, than it should be; but you and I, madam, who are Yankees, and have worked for a living,' cannot surely despise the negroes because they are compelled to work for theirs?"

'Oh, no, sir! not by any means! But you must excuse me; the carriage is waiting to take me to church; rising, she bowed herself stiffly out of the door.

and,

**See

"Ah, you hit her there!" exclaimed Joe, springing to his feet in great glee, and striding to the window. here, Mr Kirke! See what a turn-out the Yankeeschulemarm' has worried out of father!"

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My son, you must not speak so; she is your mother!" said Preston.

"No, I'm d―d if she is! Call her anything but that, father; that's- He checked himself; but I thought he would have added, "an insult to my dead mother!

Preston made no reply.

Looking out of the window, I saw Mrs Preston being handed into a magnificent barouche by one of the black gentry she so much despised. Another, in gaudy gold livery, sat on the box; and a mounted outrider, also bound up in gold braid, stood behind the carriage.

"There's a two-thousand dollar turn-out, and two fifteenhundred-dollar niggers to tote a woman who ought to go afoot. It's a poor investment, I swear," said Joe, turning away from the window.

Preston made no reply; but I laughingly remarked— "Come, Joe, she isn't your wife. Let your father spend

his money as he pleases; he can afford it."

"He can't afford it; that woman is running him to the devil at a two-forty gait. You have more influence with him than any one, Mr Kirke; do try to stop it!"

The young man spoke in a decided but regretful tone, and his manner shewed more respect to his father than his words implied. Unwilling to interfere in such an affair, I said nothing; but Preston, in a moment, remarked

"It is true, Kirke! Her extravagance has ruined my credit at home, and forced me to use Joe's indorsements. Besides, I have had to borrow ten thousand dollars of him to keep my head above water."

[Mr James Preston-the Squire's uncle-had died the

year before, and the young man had succeeded to his large property and business.]

I was thunderstruck; but, before I could reply, Joe said

"I don't care a rush for the money. Father can have every dollar I've got; but I do want to see him rid of that I've been here sick for two months, and I've seen the whole. She is worrying the very life out of him. She's made him an old man at forty."

woman.

It was true. His face was lean and haggard, and his hair already thickly streaked with white.

Preston rose, and, walking the room, said

"But what am I to do? You yourself, Joe, would not have all this made public. You've as much pride about it as I have."

"I've not a bit of pride about it, father; and it's public now. Everybody knows it, and everybody says you ought to cut her adrift."

The conversation turned to other subjects, till Mrs Preston's return from church, shortly after which dinner was announced. The lady presided at the table with as much ease and grace as if she had been born to the position; and, in her charming conversation, I almost forgot the revelations of the morning. The rest of the day I spent with Joe and Frank, strolling over the plantation, and mingling with the negroes, who, freed from work, were enjoying themselves in a very "miscellaneous manner." Preston remained at the house with Selma.

CHAPTER XVIII.

FAMILY JARS.

IT was nearly dark when we returned to the mansion. Looking in at the parlour, and not finding his father there, Joe led the way at once to the library. The door was ajar,

and, as we entered the passage-way, loud voices were issuing from it.

"I tell you, Mr Preston, I am mistress of this plantation. He shall NOT go!'

"Pardon me, madam, he shall, and to-night,” returned a mild but decided voice, which I recognised as Preston's. Being unwilling to overhear more, I turned away, but Joe caught me by the arm, exclaiming

"If you are my father's friend, go in. If you don't he will back down; he has done so forty times." Preston was a man of more than ordinary firmness, but his wife had the stronger will. She seemed possessed of a sort of magnetic power, which enabled her to control others almost arbitrarily.

Reluctantly I followed the young man into the room. Preston was seated before the fire, and Selma, with her arm about his neck, was standing near him. Mulock, better clad than when I witnessed his purchase by the "fast" young planter, but wearing a sullen, dogged expression, was leaning against the centre table; and Mrs Preston, gesticulating wildly, and her face glowing with mingled rage and defiance, stood within a few feet of her husband. Not heeding our entrance, she exclaimed

"I will have my way. If you send him off, I will never darken your doors again.'

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That is as you please, madam," replied Preston. Kirke and Frank, pray be seated."

"Mr

Stung by her husband's coolness, the lady turned fiercely upon Joe, and, shaking her clenched hand in his face, cried out

"This is your work. I will teach you better than to meddle in my affairs."

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Madam, you act well," said the young man, taking a step towards the door. "Pray, come out to the quarters ; poor as they are, every negro will give a bit to see you play." In uncontrollable rage, she struck him a smart blow in the face, and rushed from the room

When she had gone, Preston turned to Mulock—

"Now go.

The amount due you I shall retain to offset, in part, what you have tempted the negroes to steal. You can come here once a week-on Sunday-to see Phylly; but if you have any more dealings with the hands, I will prosecute you on the instant."

Mulock rose, put on his slouched hat, and, a dull fire burning in his cold, snakelike eyes, slowly said—

"Wall, Squire, I'll gwo; but 'counts 'tween you an' me ain't settled yit."

As he went, Selma leaned forward, and kissing Preston's cheek, said

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"O father! I'm so glad you didn't speak harshly to her." Preston put his arm about her, and replied

"You helped me, my child.

man, if you were with me."

I should be a better, happier

And I will be, father; I won't go away any more." "But Frank?" said Preston, again kissing her.

"Oh! you know we 're not to be married for a good while yet. I'll stay with you till then, father."

"Ah! there she goes," said Joe, looking out at the window, which commanded a view of the porte cochère; "she can't get to Newbern till ten; but the night air won't hurt her."

"Then she makes Newbern her home?"

"Yes, she spends the winters there; she came here only yesterday."

CHAPTER XIX.

A NEGRO WEDDING.

ALLY and Rosey were to be married* in the little church; and, directly after supper, we all went to the wedding. The seats had been removed from the centre of the building, for, though duly consecrated to the use of the saints, the sinners were to exercise their heels in it after the ceremony was over. At its farther extremity, the carpenter's bench of which I have spoken, elongated at both ends, and covered with a white table-cloth, was piled high with eatables; indicating that a time of "great refreshment" was at hand. The bounteous supply of ham, chicken, wild duck, roast pig, fish, hoecake, wheat bread, tea, coffee, milk, and pumpkin and sweet potatoe pies, under which the bench groaned, shewed that some liberal hand had catered for the occasion.

Black Joe, dressed in his " Sunday best," was seated on the rustic settee at the back of the desk, and Phyllis and Dinah occupied chairs inside the low railing which faced the I pulpit. Phyllis looked careworn and sad, but Ally's mother

* Usually there is no marriage-ceremony performed at the union of slaves. They simply agree, tacitly or otherwise, to live together till death or their master parts them.