"That's true enough," returned the lady, as if she had not thought of the fact before. "Della, you can go to your room till you are more composed; I will tell your father what has happened, so your timidity will be spared that."
"Oh, don't tell him anything, mamma; don't tell him this," sobbed Della.
"Nonsense, Dort; worse and worse. Go to your room, and don't make your appearance again until you can come with a face more composed, and features not all swollen and distorted by weeping."
Della obeyed, and her mother saw her no more that night.
"Oh, Minny!" exclaimed the young girl, as the privacy
of her own apartment was gained, and she threw herself, still sobbing, on the quadroon's bosom; "didn't you know before I went down that I never would accept him, that I never could marry him, never?"
"Yes, Miss, I knew it."
"Yet you implied to mamma, Minn, that you believed I had accepted him, and you know she thinks I tell you everything. Oh, Minny, you musn't tell falsehoods for my sake!"
"I told no falsehood, Miss; I only asked your mamma a simple question, that you might get free, as I knew you wished to be."
"But I know she thought you meant that."