ight read a sentence of death to see if there was one word
or sentence on which he might hang a hope of reprieve.

Camilla watched him anxiously, but silently, and when he had finished,
he covered his bowed face with his hands as he said with a deep groan,
"It is true, too true. I see it all. I can never raise my hand against
my mother's race."

He arose like one in a dream, walked slowly to the door and left the
room.

"It was a painful task," said Camilla, with a sigh of relief, as if a
burden had fallen from her soul.

"Yes," said Miriam, "but not so bad as to see him fighting agin his own
color. I'd rather follow him to his grave than see him join that
miserable secesh crew."

"Yes," said Camilla, "It was better than letting him go."

When Louis left the room a thousand conflicting thoughts passed through
his mind. He felt as a mariner at midnight on a moonless sea, who
suddenly, when the storm is brewing, finds that he has lost his compass
and his chart.

Chapter XIV

Where was he steering; and now, the course of his life was changed, what
kind of future must he make for himself?

Had it been in time of peace, he could have easily decided, as he had a
large amount of money in the North, which his father left him when he
came of age.

He would have no difficulty as to choosing the means of living; for he
was well supplied, as far as that was concerned; but here was a most
unpleasant dilemma in which he had placed himself.

Convinced that he was allied to the Negro race, his whole soul rose up
against the idea of laying one straw in its way; if he belonged to the
race he would not join its oppressors. And yet his whole sympathy had
been so completely with them, that he felt that he had no feeling in
common with the North.

And as to the colored people, of course it never entered his mind to
join their ranks, and ally himself to them; he had always regarded them
as inferior; and this sudden and unwelcome revelation had not changed
the whole tenor of his thoughts and opinions.

But what he had to do must be done quickly; for in less than three days
his company would start for the front. To desert was to face death; to
remain was to wed dishonor. He surveyed the situation calmly and
bravely, and then resolved that he would face the perils of re-capture
rather than the contempt of his own soul.

While he was deciding, he heard Camilla's step in the passage; he opened
the door, and beckoned her