Desperate as the chance appeared, it was the only one.
It was a disagreeable, heart-rending task which I had taken upon myself, but it could be no longer avoided.

It dawned upon me now with more intense force than ever before the position in which I stood, and I shrank from the ordeal.

A perfect stranger, not even a chance acquaintance of those directly involved in this tragedy, I would have to drag out from the closet, where it had been hidden away for years, this old Beaucaire skeleton, and rattle the dried bones of dishonor before the horrified understanding of these two innocent, unsuspecting girls.

I knew nothing of their characters, or of how they would meet such a revelation, and yet they must be made to see, and thoroughly comprehend the situation; must be compelled to face the horror and disgrace of their position, and aroused to action.

I had little thought then for the slave mother; doubtless she had been expecting some such exposure for years, and was, at least, partially steeled to meet it.