"I have a playfellow here," said the child, pointing to the young negro.
"Tristan is no fit playfellow for my little Camillia. Tristan is a slave."
The young negro heard every word.
"A slave!" he muttered, as Don Juan led the child toward the house. "A slave! Yes, I have been told that often enough!"
A week after this, Camillia, the nurse, Pepita, Zarah, and the boy Tristan were removed to the Villa Moraquitos, in the suburbs of New Orleans.
Camillia was now under the care of a governess, a Frenchwoman, Mademoiselle Pauline Corsi. This lady took no pleasure in the antics of Tristan—so he seldom saw Camillia.
It was in the depth of the brief winter when the brother-in-law of Don Juan Moraquitos arrived at the villa.
He was the only surviving relative of the Spaniard's dead wife, her older brother, dearly beloved by her, but he who had forced upon her the marriage with his friend, Don Juan. His name was Tomaso Crivelli.
He had come from Mexico on a tour through the United States, and had arrived at New Orleans—to die.
Yes; the hand of death was upon him!