He even authorized me to draw up the necessary papers for him to sign on his return--for both Delia and the girl.

They are in my desk now, unexecuted.

There is no mistake--Rene is legally a slave, together with her mother." "My God!" I exclaimed.

"What an indictment of slavery.

Could anyone conceive a more horrible position! Here is a young girl, educated, refined, of more than ordinary attractiveness Thockmorton tells me, brought up amid every comfort, and led to believe herself the honored daughter of the house, awakening in an instant to the fact that she is a slave, with negro blood in her veins--a mere chattel, owned body and soul by a gambler, won in a card game, and to be sold to the highest bidder.