o his way of thinking.

On the question of racial connection Ensal was really proud of the fact
that he was a Negro, and felt that had he been entrusted with the
determining of his racial affinity he would have chosen membership in
the Negro race. Earl accepted the fact of his connection with the Negro
race as a matter of course, had no desire to alter the relationship, and
felt neither dejection nor elation on account thereof.

Ensal felt that the acceptance of slavery on the part of the Negro in
preference to extermination was evidence of adaptability to conditions
that assured the presence of the Negro on the earth in the final wind up
of things, in full possession of all the advantages that time and
progress promise. Earl rather admired the Indian and felt that the dead
Indian refusing to be enslaved was a richer heritage to the world than
the yielding and thriving Negro.

Ensal held that the course of the Negro during the Civil War in caring
for the wives and children of the men fighting for their enslavement was
a tribute to their humanity and would prove an invaluable asset in all
future reckonings. While thoroughly approving of the Negro's protection
of the women and children of the whites from violence, Earl was sorry
that the thousand torches which Grady said would have disbanded the
Southern armies were not lighted. Ensal deprecated all talk and thought
of the sword as the final arbiter of the troubles between the races.
Earl had his dreams--and his plans as well.

The procuring of the full recognition of the rights of the Negro was
such a passion with Ensal that Earl relied upon it to finally bring him
from the ranks of the conservatives to the radicals. Earl was fully
convinced within himself that all of Ensal's hopes of a satisfactory,
peaceful adjustment of matters were to be dashed to the ground, and
knowing how thoroughly Ensal's soul was committed to the advancement of
the race, he really expected Ensal to develop into the leader of the
radicals. But this looming into view of a young woman, a friend of
Ensal's, was liable, Earl thought, to complicate matters.

Earl had all along rejoiced in Ensal's determination to remain
unmarried, fearing that family life might add to his conservatism. This
accounts for the fact that Ensal's simple invitation to call on a Miss
Tiara Merlow on the following evening so deeply affected Earl.

"Yes, yes, I'll go," said Earl slowly, almost as much to himself as to
E