THE BLACK CAH1BS. 309 



" I come to entreat pardon for one of your negroes whom your 

 venerable major-domo has put in the stocks. The old man is called 

 Eboe Jack." 



Whether this was exactly the nature of the expected communi- 

 cation, it is impossible to determine, as the young lady did not exhibit 

 any outward signs of disappointment. She merely expressed her 

 astonishment, as the old man in question had been for some time 

 exempt from labour. Our old friend Mustapha was sent for, and 

 during this time the subject of Charles's departure was talked of. 

 This was a very fertile topic ; but Charles could not fix a time. 



" There are some difficulties in the way with the mortgagee," said 

 he ; " and in truth, Miss Belgrave, I feel so attached to this spot that 

 I scarcely wish to leave it for the army." 



" I shall much regret your absence," said Rosetta, scarcely medi- 

 tating what she spoke. Charles sighed, and with tenderness in- 

 quired 



" To what cause am I to attribute that regret ?'* 



The question, to the surprise of Rosetta, had such an effect on her 

 that she felt a burning blush on her cheek, and stammered some 

 unintelligible reply. 



Had Melburn possessed common penetration in love, or much ex- 

 perience in the hieroglyphics of the heart, the deep blush of Rosetta 

 would have told a tale on which he might have made a commentary ; 

 but further colloquy was interrupted by the arrival of Mustapha to 

 inform her of the state of some of her people who were slightly in- 

 disposed. Rosetta now asked grace for the old negro, Jack Eboe; at 

 which Mustapha looked grave, and informed her that, as she re- 

 quested it, he would let him out of the stocks that night ; but he 

 added that Jack had been detected in robbing a fellow-slave of ten 

 dollars " a crime," added the Mandingo, "for which in my country he 

 would have had his right hand cut off. He wants nothing ; he is 

 exempt from work, and is known to have saved a very considerable 

 sum of money." 



This business settled, Charles retired to his chamber, and medi- 

 tated on what happened to him his hopeless attachment. Young 

 gentlemen who are in love delight in misery ; yet despairing as his 

 love was, he felt an indescribable* delight in nourishing the passion. 

 At times he tried to banish all thoughts of Rosetta, by reflecting on 

 his future prospects ; in a moment he commenced a system of air- 

 castle building, in which kind of architecture lovers are generally 

 great adepts. He imagined that he was serving under Wellington in 

 the Peninsula in a moment he had surmounted all the intermediate 

 grades between an ensign and a field-marshal. 



He was recalled from some of these aerial fancies by missing from 

 his table his own miniature ; he wondered the more, as things of the 

 kind are seldom stolen by negroes ; he inquired in vain of the do- 

 mestics about the house if they saw it ; the next day, to his surprise 

 and gratification, he found the miniature in its accustomed place ; he 

 therefore conceived some of the servants had taken it merely to 

 look at. 



Shortly after, Melburn received a message from Rosetta, requesting 



M.M. No. 105. S 



