ok here; when I was
twelve I was told by an old woman to be careful of my hands, of my
good looks every way, for if I was handsome as my mother, I would
never need to do housework; that was the beginning! Well!" and she
smiled bitterly, "I have not had to do it, but it was through no
planning of theirs."

"And your mother?"

"Dead; and my father, too. He was her master."

"It is that spendthrift--Trouvelot, you care for?"

"Not this minute," confessed the girl; "but," and she shrugged her
shoulders, "I probably shall tomorrow! I know myself well enough for
that; and I won't lie--to you! You saw how he could make me cry? It is
only the man we care for who can hurt us."

The Marquise did not reply; she was staring out of the window. Kora,
watching her, did not know if she heard. She had heard and was angry
with herself that her heart grew lighter when she heard the name of
Kora's lover.

"I--I will not intrude longer, Madame," said the girl at last. "What
you've said will make me think more. I never heard of what you've told
me today. I wish there were women in America like you; oh, I wish
there were! There are good white ladies there, of course, but they
don't teach the slaves to think; they only tell them to have faith!
They teach them from their bible; and all I could ever remember of it
was: 'Servants, obey your masters;' and I hated it. So you see,
Madame, it is too late for me; I don't know any other life; I--"

"I will help you to a different life whenever you are willing to leave
Paris," said the Marquise.

"You would do that, Madame?"

Kora dropped into the chair again, covering her face with her hands.
After a little she looked up, and the cunning of her class was in her
eyes.

"Is it to separate me from _him_?" she asked, bluntly. "I know they
want him to marry; are you a friend of his family?"

The Marquise smiled at that.

"I really do not know if he has a family," she replied. "I am
interested because it seems so pitiful that a girl should never have
had a chance to live commendably. It is not too late. In your own
country a person of your intelligence and education should be able to
do much good among the children of the free colored people. You would
be esteemed. You--"

"Esteemed!" Kora smiled skeptically, thinking no doubt of the
half-world circle over which she was a power in her adopted city; she,
who had only to show herself in the spectacle to make more money than
a year's earnings