; she was the fairest creature in the room, and, in the idiom of Dr. Hamilton, the men besieged her as were she Brimstone Hill in possession of the

ad elevated her, and that his cold blood quickened at the thought of possessing what all men desired, but he was as immediate and persistent in his suit as any excitable creole in the room. But Rachael gave hi

compliments with indifference. A week after his first call Mary Fawcett drove into town and spent an hour with the Governor. He told her that Levine had brought him a personal letter from the Governor of St. Croix, and that he was wealthy and well born. He was also, in his Excellency's opinion, a distinguished match even for the most beautiful and accomplished girl on the Island. P

n. Her health was failing, and it was her passionate wish not only to leave her child encircled by the protection of a devoted h

istress Fawcett told him that she had made up her own mind and would perform that office for Rachael at once, but thought it best that he shoul

lled, was growing austere with years and much pain: she suffered frightfully at times with rheumatism, and her apprehension of the moment when it should attack her heart reconciled her to the prospect of brief partings from her daughter. Her eyes still burned with the fires of an indiminishable courage however; she read the y

ate occasions only, and her hair had tumbled from its high comb and fallen upon her shoulders. Mary Fawcett sighed as she looked at her. She was too young to marr

down your tapestry. I have something to

finite purpose. In an instant she divined what was coming, and stood up. Her face c

Levine," she stammered. "I do not know how I can think of

th some uneasiness. "I do;

His whiteness makes me sick! I know he is not a good man! I fe

self, heard it on those piercing notes, and she knew that it sprang from stronger and more tragic foundati

lously quick. When you are married to him, and he is your tender and devoted husband, you will forget your prince-who, no doubt, is dark and quite splendid. But we never meet our princes, my dea

Rachael remained standing, and stared defiantly into th

should die if he touched me. I have not danced with him. His hands are so whit

, it seems. Forget your poets when he comes to-morrow, and look at him impartially. And cannot he give you all that you so much de

hat as much as ever; but I want to

ther was twenty years older than myself, and a Frenchman, but I

in the end. Do you w

the kind. There never wa

hat that kind of feeling can be created by the brain, that it responds to nothi

! Doubtless you imagine yourself on

it? It is my right. No, you need not curl your lip-I am not a little girl. I may be sixteen. I may be without experience in the world, but you have been almost my only companion, and until just now I have talked with middle-aged men only, and much with the

leverest of girls could not know what was best for herself, and the mother who per

ing marriage for you. And-" she hesitated, but it was time to play her trump. "You know that my health is not good, but you do

ut in screams and sobs and a torrent of tears. Her mother had seen her excited and in brief ungovernable tempers, but she never had suspected that