r she felt keenly the loss of her slave-friend.

"My investigations this morning proved it to be so. He is missing, and
the appearance of the thief corresponded to his size and form. I am now
satisfied, though I did not suspect it at the time, that he was the man
upon whom I fired."

"But Hatchie was always honest and faithful," said Emily.

"So he was, and I must share your surprise," returned Jaspar.

"There is a possibility that it was not he," suggested Mr. Faxon.

"There can be no doubt," said Jaspar, sharply. "The evidence is
conclusive."

"No doubt!" repeated Mr. Faxon, with a penetrating glance into the eye
of Jaspar, whose apparent anxiety to settle the question had roused his
first suspicion. "He was, if I mistake not, the only servant of your
household who was on the estate at the time of Miss Dumont's birth?"

"He was, I believe," replied Jaspar, with a coolness that belied the
anxiety within him.

"Were you _alone_ when you shot him, Mr. Dumont?" asked the clergyman,
sternly.

"I was alone. But allow me to ask, sir, by what right you question me. I
am not your pupil or your servant," replied Jaspar, rather warmly, his
natural testiness getting the better of his discretion.

"Pardon me, sir," replied the minister, in a tone of mock humility. "Do
not let my curiosity affront you."

"But it does affront me," said Jaspar, losing his temper at the
sarcastic manner of the other. "Now, allow me to inquire your business
with this girl."

"I came in the discharge of my duty as a Christian minister, to impart
the consolations of religion to this afflicted child of the church. Of
course, my business could not be with _you_ in that capacity."

"You seem to have departed very widely from your object," replied
Jaspar, with a sneer which he always bestowed upon religious topics.

"True, I have. This last blow upon poor Emily was so sudden and so
severe as to call forth a remark, and even a question of the validity of
the will."

"Indeed!" replied Jaspar, with a nervous start; "you have the will as
her father left it."

"Uncle, you said my father's watch was stolen? Was it not in the iron
safe, with the other articles?" asked Emily, timidly.

"It was," replied Jaspar, coldly.

"How did he open it?" interrogated Mr. Faxon, taking up the suggestion
of Emily.

"Did Hatchie return the keys to you last night?" asked Jaspar of Emily,
promptly.

"He did not," replied she.

"I sent for them to put a not