ed her, gratified
them at whatever expense; and I think at first she had a careless sort
of regard for him. But she hated the little Felice, whose coming gave
her the first pang of physical pain she had ever known. She never
offered the child a caress. She sometimes looked at her with a
suppressed rage which filled me with terror and anxiety.

"When Felice was a little more than a year old, your father came to La
Glorieuse to pay us a long-promised visit. His wife had died some
months before, and you, a child of six or seven years, were left in
charge of relatives in Maryland. Richard was in the full vigor of
manhood, broad-shouldered, tall, blue-eyed, and blond-haired, like his
father and like you. From the moment of their first meeting Helene
exerted all the power of her fascination to draw him to her. Never had
she been so whimsical, so imperious, so bewitching! Loyal to his friend,
faithful to his own high sense of honor, he struggled against a growing
weakness, and finally fled. I will never forget the night he went away.
A ball had been planned by Felix in honor of his friend. The ballroom
was decorated under his own supervision. The house was filled with
guests from adjoining parishes; everybody, young and old, came from the
plantations around. Helene was dazzling that night. The light of triumph
in her cheeks; her eyes shone with a softness which I had never seen in
them before. I watched her walking up and down the room with Richard, or
floating with him in the dance. They were like a pair of radiant godlike
visitants from another world. My heart ached for them in spite of my
indignation and apprehension; for light whispers were beginning to
circulate, and I saw more than one meaning smile directed at them.
Felix, who was truth itself, was gayly unconscious.

"Towards midnight I heard far up the bayou the shrill whistle of the
little packet which passed up and down then, as now, twice a week; and
presently she swung up to our landing. Richard was standing with Helene
by the fireplace. They had been talking for some time in low earnest
tones. A sudden look of determination came into his eyes. I saw him draw
from his finger a ring which she had one day playfully bade him wear,
and offer it to her. His face was white and strained; hers wore a look
which I could not fathom. He quitted her side abruptly, and walked
rapidly across the room, threading his way among the dancers, and
disappeared in the press about the