was speaking.

The sun was now very near the horizon, and that evening coolness
which, in the autumn, comes on so quickly after the sunshine fades out
of the air, made Lawrence give a little shrug with his shoulders. He
proposed that they should quicken their pace, and as his companion
made no objection, they soon reached the house.

The next day being Sunday, breakfast was rather later than usual, and
as Lawrence looked out on the bright morning, with the mists just
disengaging themselves from the many-hued foliage which crowned the
tops of the surrounding hills; and on the recently risen sun, hanging
in an atmosphere of grey and lilac, with the smile of Indian summer on
its face; he thought he would like to take a stroll, before that meal;
but either the length of his walk on the previous day, or the rapidity
of the latter portion of it, had been rather too much for the
newly-recovered strength of his ankle, which now felt somewhat stiff
and sore. When he mentioned this at the breakfast table, he received a
good deal of condolence from the two ladies, especially Mrs Keswick.
And, at first, it was thought that it might be well for him to give
up his proposed attendance at the negro church. But to this Lawrence
strongly objected, for he very much desired to see some of the
peculiar religious services of the negroes. He had been talking on the
subject the evening before with Mrs Keswick, who had told him that in
this part of the country, which lay in the "black belt" of Virginia,
where the negro population had always been thickest, these ceremonies
were more characteristic of the religious disposition of the African,
than in those sections of the State where the white race exerted a
greater influence upon the manners and customs of the colored people.

"But it will not be necessary to walk much," said Miss Annie. "We can
take the spring-wagon, and you can go with us, aunt."

The old lady permitted herself a little grin. "When I go to church,"
she said, "I go to a white folks' church, and try to see what I can of
white folks' Christianity, though I must say that Christianity of
the other color is often just as good, as far as works go. But it is
natural that a stranger should want to see what kind of services
the colored people have, so you two might as well get into the
spring-wagon and go along."

"But shall we not deprive you of the vehicle?" said Lawrence.

"I never go to church in the spring-wagon," said the ol