woman I
love."

"Very fine sentiments," said Lorraine, "and were I as rich as you I
would indulge in them also. You know, when my father died I had great
expectations. We had always lived in good style, and I never thought for
a moment he was not a rich man, but when his estate was settled I found
it was greatly involved, and I was forced to face an uncertain future,
with scarcely a dollar to call my own. Land, negroes, cattle, and horses
all went under the hammer. The only thing I retained was the education I
received at the North; that was my father's best investment, and all my
stock in trade. With that only as an outfit, it would be madness for me
to think of marrying one of those lovely girls. They remind me of
beautiful canary birds, charming and pretty, but not fitted for the wear
and tear of plantation life. Well, which is your choice?"

"Neither," replied Eugene.

"Then, is it that magnificent looking widow from New Orleans, whom we
met before you had that terrible spell of sickness and to whom you
appeared so devoted?"

"Not at all. I have not heard from her since that summer. She was
fascinating and handsome, but fearfully high strung."

"Were you afraid of her?"

"No; but I valued my happiness too much to trust it in her hands."

"Sour grapes!" said Lorraine.

"No! but I think that slavery and the lack of outside interests are
beginning to tell on the lives of our women. They lean too much on their
slaves, have too much irresponsible power in their hands, are narrowed
and compressed by the routine of plantation life and the lack of
intellectual stimulus."

"Yes, Eugene, when I see what other women are doing in the fields of
literature and art, I cannot help thinking an amount of brain power has
been held in check among us. Yet I cannot abide those Northern women,
with their suffrage views and abolition cant. They just shock me."

"But your mother was a Northern woman," said Eugene.

"Yes; but she got bravely over her Northern ideas. As I remember her,
she was just as much a Southerner as if she had been to the manor born.
She came here as a school-teacher, but soon after she came she married
my father. He was easy and indulgent with his servants, and held them
with a very loose rein. But my mother was firm and energetic. She made
the niggers move around. No shirking nor dawdling with her. When my
father died, she took matters in hand, but she only outlived him a few
months. If she had lived I