gers will sell well, I reckon.'

After supper, we strolled again into the bar room. Approaching the
counter, my eye fell on the hotel register, which lay open upon it. I
glanced involuntarily over the book. Among the arrivals of the previous
day, I noticed two recorded in a hand that I at once recognized. The
names were, 'JOHN HALLET, _New Orleans_; JACOB LARKIN, _ditto_.'

'Are these gentlemen here?' I asked the bartender.

'No; they left same day the' come.'

'Where did they go?'

'Doan't know.'

In five minutes, with my carpet bag strapped to the pommel of the
saddle, I was bounding up the road to Trenton.

It was nearly ten o'clock when I sprang from the horse and rang the bell
at the mansion. A light was burning in the library, but the rest of the
house was dark. A negro opened the door.

'Where is master Joe, or Miss Selly?'

'In de library, massa. I'll tell dem you'm here.'

'No; I'll go myself. Look after my horse.'

I strode through the parlors and the passage way to the old room. Selma
was seated on a lounge by the side of Joe, her head on his shoulder. As
I opened the door, I spoke the two words: 'My child!'

She looked up, sprang to her feet, and rushed into my arms.

'And you are safe!' I cried, putting back her soft brown hair, and
kissing her pale, beautiful forehead.

'Yes, I am safe. My brother is here--I am _safe_.'

'Joe--God bless you!--you're a noble fellow!'

He was only twenty-three, but his face was already seamed and haggard,
and his hair thickly streaked with white! We sat down, and from Selma's
lips I learned the events of the preceding months.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Selma arrived at home about a week after her father's funeral. The
affairs of the plantation were going on much as usual, but Mrs. Preston
was there in apparently the greatest grief. She seemed inconsolable;
talked much of her loss, and expressed great fears for the future. Her
husband had left no will, and nothing would remain for her but the dower
in the real estate, and that would sell for but little.

The more Preston's affairs were investigated, the worse they appeared.
He was in debt everywhere. An administrator was appointed, and he
decided that a sale of everything--the two plantations and the
negroes--would be necessary.

Selma felt little interest in the pecuniary result, but sympathy for her
stepmother induced her to remain at home, week after week, when her
presence there was no longer of service. A