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"Is she English, boy?"

"No, sah, she am a French lady, sah, if ebber dar was one in dis hyar province She libs ober yonder in de Rue Dumaine, an' she said tofeller wid de long rifle under his arm an' de coon-skin cap, an' fotch him hyar to me!' Dem am de bery words wat she done said, sah, when you went by our house a half-hour ago"

"Is youror old?"

The black chuckled, his round face assurin

"Fo' de Lawd, Massa, but dat am jest de id all you white folks!" he ejaculated "If she was ol', an' wrinkled, an' fat, den dat settle de whole ting Jest don't want to know no mor'"

"Well," I interrupted i to yourself until we become better acquainted, and answer ?"

My tone was sufficiently stern to sober hi out as if it had been ironed

"Now, don't you go an' git cross, Massa Benteen, case a laugh don't nebber do nobody no hurt," he cried, shrinking back as if expecting a blow "But dat's jest wat she atime, sah"

"And she actually told you my name?"

"Yas, sah, she did dat fer suah--'Massa Geoffrey Benteen, an Englisher from up de ribber,' dem was her bery words; but somehow I done disremember jest persactly de place"

For anotherto utter the one vital question tre on my lips

"But who is the lady? What is her name?" As I put the simple query I felt my voice tremble in spite of every effort to hold it firm

"Madame de Noyan, sah; one ob de bery first famblies Massa de Noyan am one ob de Bienvilles, sah"

"De Noyan? De Noyan?" I repeated the unfa of relief "Most certainly I never before heard other"

"I dunno nothin' 'tall 'bout dat, Massa, but suah's you born dat am her name and Massa's; an' you is de bery man she done sent me after, fer I nebber onct took my eyes off you all dis time"

There remained no reasonable doubt as to the fellow's sincerity His face was a picture of disinterested earnestness as he frontedhi representative of soue That was a time and place where one of h throughout all the sparsely settled province that any er and either Frenchman or Spaniard was certain to involve serious results We of Northern blood were bitterly envied because of co my brief residence in New Orleans, witnessed jealous treachery on every hand This had taught me that enemies of my race were numerous, while, it was probable, not more than a dozen fellow-countrymen were then in New Orleans They would prove powerless were I to become involved in any quarrel Extreme caution under such conditions became a paramount duty, and it can scarcely be wondered at that I hesitated to trust the black, continuing to study the real purpose of his ood-humor and simple interest of his face tended to reassure reat harm would result from such an interview; and if, as was probable, it should prove a mere case of mistaken identity, a correction could easily follow, and I should then be free to go my way On the other hand, if some friend really needed --I was never one to shun; for who could know in how brief a space Iassistance of soer, this Madame de Noyan of whom I had never heard, knewEnglishman, perchance, whoer, who, afraid to reveal hih her instru to brave the doubt and solve therifle across my shoulder and stood erect