I will explain how he is related to us." He gave a chain of cousins extending on either side from the Kenton family and the Bertrand family until they joined in the middle.

It was a slender tie of kinship, but it sufficed in the South.

As he finished, Bertrand himself came in, and was introduced formally to his Kentucky cousin.

Harry would have taken him for a Frenchman, and he was, in very truth, largely of French blood.

His black eyes and hair, his swarthy complexion, gleaming white teeth and quick, volatile manner showed a descendant of France who had come from the ancient soil by way of Hayti, and the great negro rebellion to the coast of South Carolina.