passion of sobs and tears upon his bosom. He made me sit down

below a tall palmetto that grew not far off; comforted me, but with

some abstraction in his voice; and as soon as I regained the least

command upon my feelings, asked me, not without harshness, what

this grief betokened. I was surprised by his tone into a still

greater measure of composure; and in firm tones, though still

interrupted by sobs, I told him there was a stranger in the island,

at which I thought he started and turned pale; that the servants

would not obey me; that the stranger's name was Madam Mendizabal,

and, at that, he seemed to me both troubled and relieved; that she

had insulted me, treated me as a slave (and here my father's brow

began to darken), threatened to buy me at a sale, and questioned my

own servants before my face; and that, at last, finding myself

quite helpless and exposed to these intolerable liberties, I had

fled from the house in terror, indignation, and amazement.

'Teresa,' said my father, with singular gravity of voice, 'I must

make to-day a call upon your courage; much must be told you, there

is much that you must do to help me; and my daughter must prove

herself a woman by her spirit. As for this Mendizabal, what shall

I say? or how am I to tell you what she is? Twenty years ago, she

was the loveliest of slaves; to-day she is what you see her--

prematurely old, disgraced by the practice of every vice and every

nefarious industry, but free, rich, married, they say, to some

reputable man, whom may Heaven assist! and exercising among her

ancient mates, the slaves of Cuba, an influence as unbounded as its

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