"That is my secret. There is very little time left me for my work. It is now nine o'clock, I must go out immediately."
"Go out, and at this hour?"
"It is absolutely necessary."
"But, dear Pauline, you will have my carriage, you will let me accompany you?"
"Neither; I go on foot and alone."
She hurried from the room before Camillia could remonstrate further, and the Spanish girl, bewildered and amazed, seated herself near the table, looking musingly at the two bridal wreaths.
That night Silas Craig sat alone in the office in which was the map of America.
The lawyer had triumphed over the man who had scorned him.
He had seen Gerald Leslie's proud nature abased to the very dust, and the darling child of a doting father sold to her most deadly enemy; for the slave has no greater enemy than the hardened profligate, whose guilty passions her charms have awakened.
Silas Craig was a winner in the game of life—what cared he for dark secrets upon the cards he had played? He was rich, and he could defy mankind. He had dined sumptuously after the fatigue of the slave sale, and the table before him was spread with glittering decanters of the choicest wines.