Close by my side, and plain, and palpable
In all good seeming and close circumstance
As man meets man."
--JOANNA BAILLIE.


It was a sultry summer night, silent and still, not a leaf stirring,
hardly so much as the chirp of an insect to be heard. The moon looked
down from a cloudless sky upon green lawns and meadows, fields and
forests clothed in richest verdure; gardens, where bloomed lovely
flowers in the greatest variety and profusion, filling the air in their
immediate vicinity with an almost overpowering sweetness; a river
flowing silently to the sea; cabins where the laborer rested from his
toil, and lordlier dwellings where, perchance, the rich man tossed
restlessly on his more luxurious couch.

Mr. and Mrs. Travilla had spent the earlier part of the evening at the
Oaks, and after their return, tempted by the beauty of the night, had
sat conversing together in the veranda long after their usual hour for
retiring. Now they were both sleeping soundly.

Perhaps the only creature awake about the house or on the plantation,
was Bungy the great watch dog, who, released from the chain that bound
him during the day, was going his rounds keeping guard over his master's
property.

A tiny figure, clothed in white, stole noiselessly from the house,
flitted down the avenue, out into the road beyond, and on and on till
lost to view in the distance. So light was the tread of the little bare
feet, that Bungy did not hear it, nor was Bruno, sleeping on the