"And who did he marry? Is she a Northern woman, and a staunch unionist?"

"Well, I can't imagine who she can be."

"Why he married Miss Henson, who sent you those beautiful flowers."

"Why, Louis, is it possible? Why she is a colored woman."

"I know."

"But how came he to marry her?"

"For the same reason I married you, because he loved her?"

"Well," said the union man, who sat quietly listening, "I am willing to
give to the colored people every right that I possess myself, but as to
intermarrying with them, I am not prepared for that."

"I think," said Louis, "that marrying and social equality among the
races will simply regulate itself. I do not think under the present
condition of things that there will be any general intermarrying of the
races, but this idea of rooted antagonism of races to me is all
moonshine. I believe that what you call the instincts of race are only
the prejudices which are the result of custom and education, and if
there is any instinct in the matter it is rather the instinct of nature
to make a Semi-tropical race in a Semi-tropical climate. Welland told me
that he had met his wife when she was a slave, that he loved her then,
and would have bought her had it been in his power, but now that freedom
had come to her he was glad to have the privilege of making her his