accept his explanations, and believe in his renewed professions. "She
loves me to distraction, and she is entirely in my power," thought he.
"It will be strange indeed if I cannot mould her as I will."

Arrived at the cottage, he found Tulee washing on a bench outside the
kitchen. "Good morning, Tulee," said he. "Is your mistress up yet?"

"Missy Rosy ha'n't been asleep," she answered in a very cold tone,
without looking up from her work.

He entered the house, and softly opened the door of Rosa's sleeping
apartment. She was walking slowly, with arms crossed, looking
downward, as if plunged in thought. Her extreme pallor disarmed him,
and there was no hardness in his tone when he said, "Rosabella!"

She started, for she had supposed the intruder was Tulee. With head
proudly erect, nostrils dilated, and eyes that flashed fire, she
exclaimed, "How dare you come here?"

This reception was so entirely unexpected, that it disconcerted him;
and instead of the severe reproof he had contemplated, he said, in an
expostulating tone: "Rosa, I always thought you the soul of honor.
When we parted, you promised not to go to the plantation unless I was
with you. Is this the way you keep your word?"

"_You_ talk of honor and promises!" she exclaimed.

The sneer conveyed in the tones stung him to the quick. But he made an
effort to conceal his chagrin, and said, with apparent calmness: "You
must admit it was an unaccountable freak to start for the plantation