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Page 66
Mr. Green had scarcely seated himself upon the sofa, when the elderly
gentleman whom he had met the previous evening made his appearance,
followed by the little boy, and introduced himself as Mr. Devenant. A
moment more, and a lady--a beautiful brunette--dressed in black, with
long curls of a chesnut colour hanging down her cheeks, entered the
room. Her eyes were of a dark hazel, and her whole appearance indicated
that she was a native of a southern clime. The door at which she entered
was opposite to where the two gentlemen were seated. They immediately
rose; and Mr. Devenant was in the act of introducing her to Mr. Green,
when he observed that the latter had sunk back upon the sofa, and the
last word that he remembered to have heard was, "It is her." After this,
all was dark and dreamy: how long he remained in this condition it was
for another to tell. When he awoke, he found himself stretched upon the
sofa, with his boots off, his neckerchief removed, shirt collar
unbuttoned, and his head resting upon a pillow. By his side sat the old
man, with the smelling bottle in the one hand, and a glass of water in
the other, and the little boy standing at the foot of the sofa. As soon
as Mr. Green had so far recovered as to be able to speak, he said,
"Where am I, and what does this mean?" "Wait a while," replied the old
man, "and I will tell you all." After the lapse of some ten minutes he
rose from the sofa, adjusted his apparel, and said, "I am now ready to
hear anything you have to say." "You were born in America," said the old
man. "Yes," he replied. "And you were acquainted with a girl named
Mary," continued the old man. "Yes, and I loved her as I can love none
other." "The lady whom you met so mysteriously last evening is Mary,"
replied Mr. Devenant. George Green was silent, but the fountains of
mingled grief and joy stole out from beneath his eye lashes, and
glistened like pearls upon his pale and marble-like cheeks. At this
juncture the lady again entered the room. Mr. Green sprang from the
sofa, and they fell into each other's arms, to the surprise of the old
man and little George, and to the amusement of the servants who had
crept up one by one, and were hid behind the doors or loitering in the
hall. When they had given vent to their feelings, they resumed their
seats and each in turn related the adventures through which they had
passed. "How did you find out my name and address," asked Mr. Green?
"After you had left us in the grave-yard, our little George said, 'O,
mamma, if there aint a book!' and picked it up and brought it to us.
Papa opened it, and said 'the gentleman's name is written in it, and
here is a card of the Hotel de Leon, where I suppose he is stopping.'
Papa wished to leave the book, and said it was all a fancy of mine that
I had ever seen you before, but I was perfectly convinced that you were
my own George Green. Are you married?" "No, I am not." "Then, thank
God!" exclaimed Mrs. Devenant. The old man who had been silent all this
time, said, "Now, Sir, I must apologize for the trouble you were put to
last evening." "And you are single now." "Yes," she replied. "This is
indeed the Lord's doings," said Mr. Green, at the same time bursting
into a flood of tears. Although Mr. Devenant was past the age when men
should think upon matrimonial subjects, yet this scene brought vividly
before his eyes the days when he was a young man, and had a wife living,
and he thought it time to call their attention to dinner, which was
then waiting. We need scarcely add, that Mr. Green and Mrs. Devenant did
very little towards diminishing the dinner that day.
After dinner the lovers (for such we have to call them) gave their
experience from the time that George Green left the gaol, dressed in
Mary's clothes. Up to that time, Mr. Green's was substantially as we
have related it. Mrs. Devenant's was as follows:--"The night after you
left the prison," said she, "I did not shut my eyes in sleep. The next
morning, about 8 o'clock, Peter, the gardener, came to the gaol to see
if I had been there the night before, and was informed that I had, and
that I left a little after dark. About an hour after, Mr. Green came
himself, and I need not say that he was much surprised on finding me
there, dressed in your clothes. This was the first tidings they had of
your escape." "What did Mr. Green say when he found that I had fled?"
"O!" continued Mrs. Devenant, "he said to me when no one was near, I
hope George will get off, but I fear you will have to suffer in his
stead. I told him that if it must be so I was willing to die if you
could live." At this moment George Green burst into tears, threw his
arms around her neck, and exclaimed, "I am glad I have waited so long,
with the hope of meeting you again."
Mrs. Devenant again resumed her story:--"I was kept in gaol three days,
during which time I was visited by the Magistrates and two of the
Judges. On the third day I was taken out, and master told me that I was
liberated, upon condition that I be immediately sent out of the State.
There happened to be just at that time in the neighbourhood a
negro-trader, and he purchased me, and I was taken to New Orleans. On
the steam-boat we were kept in a close room where slaves are usually
confined, so that I saw nothing of the passengers on board or the towns
we passed. We arrived at New Orleans and were all put into the
slave-market for sale. I was examined by many persons, but none seemed
willing to purchase me; as all thought me too white, and said I would
run away and pass as a free white woman. On the second day while in the
slave-market, and while planters and others were examining slaves and
making their purchases, I observed a tall young man with long black hair
eyeing me very closely, and then talking to the trader. I felt sure that
my time had now come, but the day closed without my being sold. I did
not regret this, for I had heard that foreigners made the worst of
masters, and I felt confident that the man who eyed me so closely was
not an American.
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