This story, Jaspar
said, his brother had told him in the strictest confidence, many years
before. Mr. Faxon, appreciating the disappointment of a father with such
a sensitive nature as Colonel Dumont, was willing to believe that Emily
had been substituted to supply in his affections the place of the lost
child; but that he should educate her as his own child, and then cast
her out from the pale of society, was incredible!
The evidence was so strong, he could see no escape from the terrible
conclusion that the gentle being, to whom he had ministered in joy and
in sorrow, was a slave! It required a hard struggle in his mind before
he could reconcile himself to the revolting truth. Her beautiful
character, built up mostly under his own supervision, he regarded with
peculiar pride. He was not so bigoted, however, as to believe his labors
lost, or even less worthy, because bestowed, as it now appeared, upon a
slave. In heaven his labors would be just as apparent in the quadroon as
in the noble-born lady.
After the departure of the friends who had been summoned to the reading
of the will, and whose stay had been prolonged by the melancholy
interest they felt in the unfortunate Emily, Mr.
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