that it was extraordinary his voice should have made her start as it did. "Miss Beauchamp," said he, I have a proposal-I mean that I have a bargain to propose to you, will you listen to it?"

The American young lady started a little at hearing these words, and upon looking round, and finding herself tête-à-tête with the English young gentleman who spoke them, half rose from her seat with the intention of walking away. But the second thought which prevented her doing this, not only came quickly, but decidedly; and it was with an air of being very particularly determined to hear him, and to answer him, too, that she turned herself round, and said,

"Yes, sir, I am quite willing to listen to you."

Frederick Egerton would perhaps have been less disconcerted if she had answered less complyingly; but marvelling at his own folly in feeling thus, he rallied, and proceeded pretty nearly in the terms he had intended.

"That is very obliging," he said, " and I will not detain you very long. What I wish to propose, Miss Beauchamp, is this: Let us mutually agree not definitively to form any opinion of each other's country, and countrymen, and countrywomen," he added, with a smile, "till we are fairly enabled to do so by having rather more general information on the subject than we either of us possess at present.'

Annie eyed him, almost steadily, for about a second, and then blushed a good deal for having done so; but she, too, rallied quickly, and replied,

"Perhaps, sir, it would be more like good Christians and reasonable human beings if we did so."

"But if we make this agreement," he resumed, with a smile which had no very malicious expression in it, and which certainly made him look very handsome; "if we make this agreement, Miss Beauchamp, we must do it fairly on both sides, must we not? I mean that we must not scruple to confess to each other the observations either favourable or unfavourable, which we may chance to make. This is necessary to truth and justice, is it not?"

Either in the words themselves, or in his manner of speaking them, there was something that made Annie blush again; but this emotion, however caused, seemed to make her angry, either with herself or with him, for she knit her beautiful brows as she replied,

"If you wish me to confess that I entirely disapprove and condemn the line of conduct adopted by some of the gentlemen and ladies of New Orleans, towards some of the gentlemen and ladies of England, as witnessed both by yourself and me, sir, during the last few days, I am quite ready to gratify you. I do disapprove and condemn it greatly."

"Perhaps you mean," said Egerton, colouring a little in his turn, perhaps you mean, Miss Beauchamp, that you disapprove and condemn any and every hospitality or kindness of any sort offered from the inhabitants of your country, towards the inhabitants of mine ?"

"No!" she replied, but in an altered and less haughty tone. "No! I mean not that. I mean that I am sorry and ashamed to perceive that even the adınirable judgment and good sense of Americans can be blinded and rendered useless by-by their prejudices."

Sept.-VOL. LXVI. NO. CCLXI.

D

Egerton perceived that he had touched a string which vibrated too strongly for pique or pettishness to effect the tone which it produced. He longed to speak to the beautiful and intelligent-looking young creature before him with more of candour and common sense than he had yet done, but felt strangely at a loss how to begin. He was perplexed not only by his own embarrassment, but by seeking to comprehend why he felt it.

Was he afraid of Miss Annie Beauchamp? Absurd idea! He rejected it indignantly, and mastering the sort of shyness which had checked him, he said more seriously, and perhaps, too, with more punctilious respect than he had ever before used in addressing her,

"May I venture, Miss Beauchamp, to believe that in using the word prejudice on the subject to which I think you allude, your opinions respecting it are at all like what you must suppose mine to be ?"

"I would rather have avoided all conversation with you on such a topic, sir," replied Annie, after meditating for a moment; "but yet I believe that I have no right to think you mean to pain me by speaking on it. Nobody, I believe, supposes that any inhabitant of a Slave State can see any thing to lament in the laws which exist in it. This is not a very fair judgment-but it is idle to complain of it; for it is only a part of the injustice that is done us. There are many among us who judge you—I mean your country-more fairly, Mr. Egerton. All Americans, as you would find, if you knew more individuals among them all Americans do not suppose that all Englishmen approve the atrocities practised upon children in your manufacturing districts, nor would they think it right to take it for granted, that you all approve the regulations now enforced by your poor-laws."

He

Egerton listened to her with great attention, and certainly with great astonishment also. Her words and manner produced, moreover, another feeling, but this related rather to himself then to her. began to suspect that he had been guilty of injustice; that he had formed his opinions hastily, and without sufficient grounds, or at any rate that he had not allowed enough for individual exceptions; and with the candour which such self-condemnation was likely to produce, he replied,

"I believe you are very right, Miss Beauchamp. I believe that we English do, all of us, form opinions, and pronounce them too, a great deal too much upon general views, without seeking, as we ought to do, for exceptions that might lead to modify them. Your words have suggested this very useful truth, and I shall not forget them. But you will allow, I am sure, that in order to make this productive of all the good of which it is capable, it is necessary that we should occasionally meet with good sense and candour equal to your own, and that all our attempts to become acquainted with your widely-extended and important country, should not be always and for ever met with the broad assertion that it is the best and wisest in the world. This is a species of information which it is impossible to receive in the sort of wholesale manner in which it is given, and it is often rejected en masse because offered en masse."

These words produced on the mind of Annie Beauchamp an effect exceedingly like what hers had produced on that of Frederic Egerton. That is to say, she felt there might be some truth in them, and the

coincidence made her blush again; but she smiled too, and in such a sort, that the young Englishman not only thought her a thousand times handsomer than ever, but he thought also, and very nearly independent of any such consideration, that he should greatly like to converse further with her, now that so much of the prejudice, which had mutually influenced them, seemed in so fair a way of being lessened, at least, if not altogether removed.

But exactly at this moment, and before Frederic had advanced further than gently smiling in return, Miss Louisa Perkins came back again through the window, exclaiming,

"Oh, dear me! You are quite mistaken in fancying my sister wanted me, my dear young gentleman; for instead of that, I believe, between you and I, she would a good deal rather that I should just stay away. It was some time after I went in, before I could see at all, for you know they make the room so dark with the blinds; but when I did find her at last, I saw in a minute that I had better keep away, for she was talking with another person so very earnestly, that they neither of them seemed as if they wanted any more company."

This was all said in a manner so unusually lively, and with such an air of extreme satisfaction, that it seemed as if her return to the balcony was particularly agreeable to her feelings. Miss Beauchamp again made room for her beside herself, but whether she was quite as much delighted at this renewed arrangement as Miss Louisa, may be doubted.

As to Egerton, he did not seem at all disposed to leave the matter in any doubt as far as he was concerned himself, for without attempting to utter a word in reply to Miss Perkins's information, he started from his place, and passing hastily through the saloon, left the house.

CHAP. XXIII.

ANOTHER large party, of which Mrs. Allen Barnaby was again very decidedly the heroine, concluded the day, and it was not till the following morning that any opportunity occurred for her to converse with her still most highly-favoured friend, Mrs. Colonel Beauchamp, upon the important subject of their approaching departure.

A very considerable change had taken place in the former lady's state of mind since the subject had been last conversed between them; and though in point of time this interval had not exceeded three days, whole years sometimes pass over us without producing an equally decisive effect. There was, as the reader may by this time be pretty tolerably well aware, a good deal of native decisiveness of purpose in the character of Mrs. Allen Barnaby; and when she had determined upon doing any thing, she generally did it. But notwithstanding this strong propensity to having her own way, the admirable fund of good sense which she possessed, prevented that way, for the most part, from leading her astray from her interest, and therefore in all former conversations with Mrs. Beauchamp, upon the subject of the plans they were to pursue together, she had hardly felt conscious of having any wish or will, except that of ingratiating herself still further in the favour of that

lady, and promoting every thing that could lead to increasing their intercourse and intimacy.

But now matters were altogether changed, and their mutual position pretty nearly reversed. Mrs. Allen Barnaby felt all over that it was she who was the person to confer honour, and Mrs. Colonel Beauchamp the person to receive it. In her opinion, therefore, it followed naturally that for the future that lady's wishes and convenience were on all points to give way to her own; and though quite determined not to permit either will or whim-no, not even her own, to deprive her of the solid advantages which she intended to reap from the devoted attachment of the wealthy planter's lady, her mode of addressing her when they were next tête-à-tête, approached very nearly in spirit

to the celebrated

'Tis mine to speak, and thine to hear,

of the romance. Nor was she at all mistaken in the calculation she had made respecting the degree in which this was likely to be endured, without producing any disagreeable result whatever. Perhaps Mrs. Colonel Beauchamp was a little surprised to hear that her dear friend had given up all thoughts of the delightful steam-boat excursion they were all to make together; but as to anger, no such feeling ever entered her head, and still less her heart; and her first words were, after becoming thoroughly availed, as she would have said, of the change which had taken place in Mrs. Allen Barnaby's intentions,

"Then you don't think, I expect, that you should be able to fix yourself for another long journey so soon?"

"I do not think that I shall set off upon another long journey so soon," returned the authoress, slightly smiling; "but not from any fear of fatigue, or over-exertion. Where the mind is forcibly sustained, Mrs. Beauchamp, the body rarely gives way. No! My reasons for this alteration are wholly distinct from any idea of mere personal pleasure, or personal inconvenience. To you, my dear madam, I have no reserves, nor do I wish to have any; the generous, the truly liberal hospitality with which you have invited myself and the whole of my suite to your house at Big-Gang Bank, can never be remembered without a feeling of gratified, and let me say of grateful affection. I mean, I fully mean, to accept this hospitality, and to repose with my important manuscript before me, under the shadow of your friendly sugar-canes, well knowing that I can in no way so well prove to you how thoroughly I appreciate your kindness, as by accepting it."

"And there I am sure you are quite right, my dearest lady," replied the really delighted Mrs. Beauchamp. "There is nothing that I know of that would be so always agreeable to me as that; and to my husband, the colonel, I expect as much as to me. For in course, I calculate upon your husband, the major, not forgetting his card-playing, because he is in the country. He is too smart a gentleman for that, I expect."

66

Oh, no! There is not the slightest fear of it, I am sure," returned Mrs. Allen Barnaby, with an encouraging nod. "The major is really one of the most amiable men in the world, and would rather, I am convinced. play every night of his life to amuse and please so excellent a

person as the colonel, than follow any more favourite pursuit of his own. And to make you quite easy on that head, I can assure you that he really does not dislike cards at all himself. All men of fashion with us, you know, are accustomed to play, and rather high, too, even from their earliest childhood, and this of course becomes habitual to them, so that scarcely any of our really distinguished men ever like to go to bed till they have passed their accustomed hour or two at play. So do not let that worry you, dear Mrs. Beauchamp, it will all do very well, I dare say. The major, as you may naturally suppose, has been accustomed to have his attention roused and kept awake by a tolerably high stake. All men of fortune are used to that, I presume, in every country. But there is no danger that our gentlemen should differ about that point-and in short, I look forward to enjoying a long visit to you exceedingly."

Mrs. Beauchamp, who had already began running over in her mind the different people to whom she could show off her illustrious guest, replied with the most cordial earnestness, assuring her that there was nothing the colonel would not feel ready, and bound to do, in order to show his respect and gratitude for the admirable, elegant expressions respecting the slave business, which Mrs. Allen Barnaby had read up to them.

"On that point," replied our authoress, with a good deal of solemnity, "on that point I shall have much more to say. I consider it, in fact, one of such prodigious importance to this noble country, that I am almost tempted to believe I should make my work of higher utility by devoting my pages wholly to the Slave States, than by mixing up in it any observations concerning that portion of the Union from whence slavery has been so unwisely banished. My general admiration for the whole country, and for all the truly superior people who inhabit it, would render it extremely disagreeable to me, of course, were I to feel myself obliged to blame the principles and conduct of any portion of them. And yet, my dear madam, how could I help pointing the finger of reprobation against those who actually threaten, as one of the gentlemen so well observed the other night, to revolutionize this magnificent and unequalled country, by abolishing slavery?"

Mrs. Colonel Beauchamp was in ecstasies while listening to this speech, and really seemed to restrain herself with difficulty from falling at the feet of the speaker.

"Oh, my!" she exclaimed, while tears of emotion trembled on her eyelids, "I expect that you do understand the nature of the Union better than any gentleman or lady that ever visited it before! Yes, my dear lady, you are quite right. There is not one of us could bear or abide your speaking any way disrespectful of any part of our glorious and immortal country, and therefore, as you most elegantly observe, it will be far better, and preferable a hundred thousand times over, that you should write wholly and solely upon the great blessings and advantages of slavery, instead of turning away from our quite perfect states, just to belittle the others. Pray God you may keep in the same mind about that, my dear Mrs. Allen Barnaby, and then I shall be only just too happy, that's all."

"Yes, dear lady, that is iny view of the case, exactly. And if we can but contrive to keep the good major, and the rest of our party,