The Garies and Their Friends | Page 2

Reader is introduced to a Family of Peculiar
Construction
2.--A Glance at the Ellis Family
3.--Charlie's Trials
4.--In which Mr. Winston finds an Old Friend
5.--The Garies decide on a Change
6.--Pleasant News
7.--Mrs. Thomas has her Troubles
8.--Trouble in the Ellis Family
9.--Breaking up
10.--Another Parting
11.--The New Home
12.--Mr. Garie's Neighbour
13.--Hopes consummated
14.--Charlie at Warmouth
15.--Mrs. Stevens gains a Triumph
16.--Mr. Stevens makes a Discovery
17.--Plotting
18.--Mr. Stevens falls into Bad Hands
19.--The Alarm
20.--The Attack
21.--More Horrors
22.--An Anxious Day
23.--The Lost One Found
24.--Charlie distinguishes himself
25.--The Heir
26.--Home again
27.--Sudbury
28.--Charlie seeks Employment
29.--Clouds and Sunshine
30.--Many Years after
31.--The Thorn rankles
32.--Dear Old Ess again
33.--The Fatal Discovery

34.--"Murder will out"
35.--The Wedding
36.--And the Last

CHAPTER I
.
In which the Reader is introduced to a Family of peculiar Construction.
It was at the close of an afternoon in May, that a party might have been
seen gathered around a table covered with all those delicacies that, in
the household of a rich Southern planter, are regarded as almost
necessaries of life. In the centre stood a dish of ripe strawberries, their
plump red sides peeping through the covering of white sugar that had
been plentifully sprinkled over them. Geeche limes, almost drowned in
their own rich syrup, temptingly displayed their bronze-coloured forms
just above the rim of the glass that contained them. Opposite, and as if
to divert the gaze from lingering too long over their luscious beauty,
was a dish of peaches preserved in brandy, a never-failing article in a
Southern matron's catalogues of sweets. A silver basket filled with a
variety of cakes was in close proximity to a plate of corn-flappers,
which were piled upon it like a mountain, and from the brown tops of
which trickled tiny rivulets of butter. All these dainties, mingling their
various odours with the aroma of the tea and fine old java that came
steaming forth from the richly chased silver pots, could not fail to
produce a very appetising effect.
There was nothing about Mr. Garie, the gentleman who sat at the head
of the table, to attract more than ordinary attention. He had the ease of
manner usual with persons whose education and associations have been
of a highly refined character, and his countenance, on the whole, was
pleasing, and indicative of habitual good temper.
Opposite to him, and presiding at the tea-tray, sat a lady of marked
beauty. The first thing that would have attracted attention on seeing her
were her gloriously dark eyes. They were not entirely black, but of that
seemingly changeful hue so often met with in persons of African
extraction, which deepens and lightens with every varying emotion.
Hers wore a subdued expression that sank into the heart and at once
riveted those who saw her. Her hair, of jetty black, was arranged in

braids; and through her light-brown complexion the faintest tinge of
carmine was visible. As she turned to take her little girl from the arms
of the servant, she displayed a fine profile and perfectly moulded form.
No wonder that ten years before, when she was placed upon the
auction-block at Savanah, she had brought so high a price. Mr. Garie
had paid two thousand dollars for her, and was the envy of all the
young bucks in the neighbourhood who had competed with him at the
sale. Captivated by her beauty, he had esteemed himself fortunate in
becoming her purchaser; and as time developed the goodness of her
heart, and her mind enlarged through the instructions he assiduously
gave her, he found the connection that might have been productive of
many evils, had proved a boon to both; for whilst the astonishing
progress she made in her education proved her worthy of the pains he
took to instruct her, she returned threefold the tenderness and affection
he lavished upon her.
The little girl in her arms, and the boy at her side, showed no trace
whatever of African origin. The girl had the chestnut hair and blue eyes
of her father; but the boy had inherited the black hair and dark eyes of
his mother. The critically learned in such matters, knowing his
parentage, might have imagined they could detect the evidence of his
mother's race, by the slightly mezzo-tinto expression of his eyes, and
the rather African fulness of his lips; but the casual observer would
have passed him by without dreaming that a drop of negro blood
coursed through his veins. His face was expressive of much intelligence,
and he now seemed to listen with an earnest interest to the conversation
that was going on between his father and a dark-complexioned
gentleman who sat beside him.
"And so you say, Winston, that they never suspected you were
coloured?"
"I don't