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Show 210 U~CI.I~ TO lit'S CA UIN: OR, was the last that I ever heard. ~1i1cn he fOund where my daughter was; an old woman was keeping her. lie oJTcrcd an immense sum for her, but they would not sell her. Butler found out that it was for me he wanted her; and he sent me word that I should never have her. Captain Stuart was very kind to me ; he had a. splendid plantation, and took me to it. In the course of a year, I had a son born. 0 , that child! - how I loved it! How just like my poor Henry the little thing looked! But I had made up my mind,-yes, I had. I would never again let a child live to grow up! I took the little fellow in my arms, when he was two weeks old, and kissed him, and cried over him; and then I gave hhn laudanum, and held him close to my bosom, while he slept to death. !low I mourned and cried over it! and ,yho ever dreamed that it was anything but a. mistake, that hnd made me give it the l:uu.lanmu? but it's one of the few things that I 'm glad of, now. I am not sorry, to this day; he, at least, is out of pain. Whnt better than death could I givo him,. poor child! After a while, the cholera came, and Captain Stuart died; everybody died that wanted to live,- and I,- I , though I went down to death' a door,-! lived! Then I was sold, and passed from hand to hand, till I grew faded and wrinkled, and I had a fCver ; and then this wretch bought me, and brought me l1ere,- and here I am! " 'J.'ho woman stopped. She had hurrjeU on through her story, with a wiltl, passionate utterance; sometimes seeming to address it to ~rom, nnd sometim.es speaking ns in a. soliloquy. So vol1ement and overpowering was the force with which she spoke, that, for a season, ~rom was beguiled even from the pain of his wounds, and, raising himself on one elbow, W<ltched Iter as she paced restlessly up and Jown, her long black hair swn.ying he..1.vily about her. as she moved. LTFE A:\IOXG 1'111~ LOWLY. 211 ~~You tell me," she saiJ, after a pause, " that there js a. God,-a God that looks down and sees a11 these things. May be it's so. The sisters in the convent used to tell me of a. day of judgment, when everything is coming to light;- won't there bo vengeance, then ! "~J.lhcy tl1ink it's nothing, what we suffer,- nothing, what our chilllren suffer! It's a.ll a. small matter; yet I ' vc walked. the streets when it seemed as if I had misery enough in my one heart to sink the city. I 'vc wished the houses would fall on me, or the stones sink under me. Yes! and, in the judgment day, I will stand up before God, a witness against those that ha.ve ruined me and my children, body and soul! " "\Yhen I was a. girl, I thought I was religious; I used to love God and prayer. Now, I 'm a lost soul, pursuod by devils that torment me day and night; they keep pushing me on and on - ami I 'll do it, too, some of these days ! " she said, clenching her hand, while an insane light glanced in her heavy black eyes. "I'll send him where he belongs,- n short way, too,- one of these nights, if they burn me alive for it!" A wild, long Ja.ugh, rang through the deserted room, and ended in a hysteric sob; she threw herself on the floor, in convulsive sobbings and struggles. In a. few moments, the frenzy fit seemed to pass off; she rose slowly, and seemed to collect herself. "Can I do anything more for you, my poor fellow? " t>hc saiJ, npproaching where 'fom lay; "sha11 I give you some more wa tor '1 '' i'hcre was a. graceful and compassionate sweetness in her voice and manner , as she said this, that formed a. strange contrast with the former wildness. |