Their friend hesitated. "Remember, you have promised to be calm," said she. "I presume you don"t know that, by the laws of Louisiana, "the child follows the condition of the mother." The consequence is, that _you_ are slaves, and your father"s creditors claim a right to sell you."
Rosabella turned very pale, and the hand with which she clutched a chair trembled violently. But she held her head erect, and her look and tone were very proud, as she exclaimed, "_We_ become slaves! I will die rather."
Floracita, unable to comprehend this new misfortune, looked from one to the other in a bewildered way. Nature had written mirthfulness in the shape of her beautiful eyes, which now contrasted strangely with their startled and sad expression.
The kind-hearted Frenchwoman bustled about the room, moving chairs, and pa.s.sing her handkerchief over boxes, while she tried hard to swallow the emotions that choked her utterance. Having conquered in the struggle, she turned toward them, and said, almost cheerfully: "There"s no need of dying, my children. Perhaps your old friend can help you out of this trouble. We must disguise ourselves as gentlemen, and start for the North this very evening."
Floracita looked at her sister, and said, hesitatingly: "Couldn"t you write to Mr. Fitzgerald, and ask _him_ to come here? Perhaps he could help us."
Rosa"s cheeks glowed, as she answered proudly: "Do you think I would _ask_ him to come? I wouldn"t do such a thing if we were as rich and happy as we were a little while ago; and certainly I wouldn"t do it now."
"There spoke Grandpa Gonsalez!" said Madame. "How grand the old gentleman used to look, walking about so erect, with his gold-headed cane! But we must go to work in a hurry, my children. Signor Papanti has promised to send the disguises, and we must select and pack such things as it is absolutely necessary we should carry. I am sorry now that Tulee is let out in the city, for we need her help.
"She must go with us," said Flora. "I can"t leave Tulee."
"We must do as we can," replied Madame. "In this emergency we can"t do as we would. _We_ are all white, and if we can get a few miles from here, we shall have no further trouble. But if we had a negro with us, it would lead to questions, perhaps. Besides, we haven"t time to disguise her and instruct her how to perform her part. The Signor will be a good friend to her; and as soon as we can earn some money, we will send and buy her."
"But where can we go when we get to the North?" asked Rosa.
"I will tell you," said Floracita. "Don"t you remember that Mr. King from Boston, who came to see us a year ago? His father was papa"s best friend, you know; and when he went away, he told us if ever we were in trouble, to apply to him, as if he were our brother."
"Did he?" said Madame. "That lets in a gleam of light. I heard your father say he was a very good young man, and rich."
"But Papasito said, some months ago, that Mr. King had gone to Europe with his mother, on account of her health," replied Rosa. "Besides, if he were at home, it would be very disagreeable to go to a young gentleman as beggars and runaways, when he was introduced to us as ladies."
"You must put your pride in your pocket for the present, Senorita Gonsalez," said Madame, playfully touching her under the chin. "If this Mr. King is absent, I will write to him. They say there is a man in Boston, named William Lloyd Garrison, who takes great interest in slaves. We will tell him our story, and ask him about Mr. King. I did think of stopping awhile with relatives in New York. But it would be inconvenient for them, and they might not like it. This plan pleases me better. To Boston we will go. The Signor has gone to ask my cousin, Mr. Duroy, to come here and see to the house. When I have placed you safely, I will come back slyly to my cousin"s house, a few miles from here, and with his help I will settle up my affairs. Then I will return to you, and we will all go to some secure place and live together. I never starved yet, and I don"t believe I ever shall."
The orphans clung to her, and kissed her hands, as they said: "How kind you are to us, dear friend! What shall we ever do to repay you?"
"Your father and mother were generous friends to me," replied Madame; "and now their children are in trouble, I will not forsake them."
As the good lady was to leave her apartments for an indefinite time, there was much to be done and thought of, beside the necessary packing for the journey. The girls tried their best to help her, but they were continually proposing to carry something because it was a keepsake from Mamita or Papasito.
"This is no time for sentiment, my children," said Madame. "We must not take anything we can possibly do without. Bless my soul, there goes the bell! What if it should be one of those dreadful creditors come here to peep and pry? Run to your room, my children, and bolt the door."
A moment afterward, she appeared before them smiling, and said: "There was no occasion for being so frightened, but I am getting nervous with all this flurry. Come back again, dears. It is only Franz Blumenthal."
"What, come again?" asked Rosa. "Please go, Floracita, and I will come directly, as soon as I have gathered up these things that we must carry."
The young German blushed like a girl as he offered two bouquets, one of heaths and orange-buds, the other of orange-blossoms and fragrant geraniums; saying as he did so, "I have taken the liberty to bring some flowers, Miss Floracita."
"My name is Miss Royal, sir," she replied, trying to increase her stature to the utmost. It was an unusual caprice in one whose nature was so childlike and playful; but the recent knowledge that she was a slave had made her, for the first time, jealous of her dignity. She took it into her head that he knew the humiliating fact, and presumed upon it.
But the good lad was as yet unconscious of this new trouble, and the unexpected rebuke greatly surprised him. Though her slight figure and juvenile face made her attempt at majesty somewhat comic, it was quite sufficient to intimidate the bashful youth; and he answered, very meekly: "Pardon me, Miss Royal. Floracita is such a very pretty name, and I have always liked it so much, that I spoke it before I thought."
The compliment disarmed her at once; and with one of her winning smiles, and a quick little courtesy, she said: "Do you think it"s a pretty name? You _may_ call me Floracita, if you like it so much."
"I think it is the prettiest name in the world," replied he. "I used to like to hear your mother say it. She said everything so sweetly! Do you remember she used to call me Florimond when I was a little boy, because, she said, my face was so florid? Now I always write my name Franz Florimond Blumenthal, in memory of her."
"I will always call you Florimond, just as Mamita did," said she.
Their very juvenile _tete-a-tete_ was interrupted by the entrance of Madame with Rosa, who thanked him graciously for her portion of the flowers, and told him her father was so much attached to him that she should always think of him as a brother.
He blushed crimson as he thanked her, and went away with a very warm feeling at his heart, thinking Floracita a prettier name than ever, and happily unconscious that he was parting from her.
He had not been gone long when the bell rang again, and the girls again hastened to hide themselves. Half an hour elapsed without their seeing or hearing anything of Madame; and they began to be extremely anxious lest something unpleasant was detaining her. But she came at last, and said, "My children, the Signor wants to speak to you."
They immediately descended to the sitting-room, where they found the Signor looking down and slowly striking the ivory head of his cane against his chin, as he was wont to do when buried in profound thought. He rose as they entered, and Rosa said, with one of her sweetest smiles, "What is it you wish, dear friend?" He dropped a thin cloak from his shoulders and removed his hat, which brought away a grizzled wig with it, and Mr. Fitzgerald stood smiling before them.
The glad surprise excited by this sudden realization of a latent hope put maidenly reserve to flight, and Rosa dropped on her knees before him, exclaiming, "O Gerald, save us!"
He raised her tenderly, and, imprinting a kiss on her forehead, said: "Save you, my precious Rose? To be sure I will. That"s what I came for."
"And me too," said Flora, clinging to him, and hiding her face under his arm.
"Yes, and you too, mischievous fairy," replied he, giving her a less ceremonious kiss than he had bestowed on her sister. "But we must talk fast, for there is a great deal to be done in a short time. I was unfortunately absent from home, and did not receive the letter informing me of your good father"s death so soon as I should otherwise have done. I arrived in the city this morning, but have been too busy making arrangements for your escape to come here any earlier. The Signor and I have done the work of six during the last few hours.
The creditors are not aware of my acquaintance with you, and I have a.s.sumed this disguise to prevent them from discovering it. The Signor has had a talk with Tulee, and told her to keep very quiet, and not tell any mortal that she ever saw me at your father"s house. A pa.s.sage for you and Madame is engaged on board a vessel bound to Na.s.sau, which will sail at midnight. Soon, after I leave this house, Madame"s cousin, Mr. Duroy, will come with two boys. You and Madame will a.s.sume their dresses, and they will put on some clothes the Signor has already sent, in such boxes as Madame is accustomed to receive, full of materials for her flowers. All, excepting ourselves, will suppose you have gone North, according to the original plan, in order that they may swear to that effect if they are brought to trial. When I go by the front of the house whistling _ca ira_, you will pa.s.s through the garden to the street in the rear, where you will find my servant with a carriage, which will convey you three miles, to the house of one of my friends. I will come there in season to accompany you on board the ship."
"O, how thoughtful and how kind you are!" exclaimed Rosa. "But can"t we contrive some way to take poor Tulee with us?"
"It would be imprudent," he replied. "The creditors must be allowed to sell her. She knows it, but she has my a.s.surance that I will take good care of her. No harm shall come to Tulee, I promise you. I cannot go with you to Na.s.sau; because, if I do, the creditors may suspect my partic.i.p.ation in the plot. I shall stay in New Orleans a week or ten days, then return to Savannah, and take an early opportunity to sail for Na.s.sau, by the way of New York. Meanwhile, I will try to manage matters so that Madame can safely return to her house. Then we will decide where to make a happy home for ourselves."
The color forsook Rosa"s cheeks, and her whole frame quivered, as she said, "I thank you, Gerald, for all this thoughtful care; but I cannot go to Na.s.sau,--indeed I cannot!"
"Cannot go!" exclaimed he. "Where _will_ you go, then?"
"Before you came, Madame had made ready to take us to Boston, you know. We will go there with her."
"Rosa, do you distrust me?" said he reproachfully. "Do you doubt my love?"
"I do not distrust you," she replied; "but"--she looked down, and blushed deeply as she added--"but I promised my father that I would never leave home with any gentleman unless I was married to him."
"But, Rosa dear, your father did not foresee such a state of things as this. Everything is arranged, and there is no time to lose. If you knew all that I know, you would see the necessity of leaving this city before to-morrow."
"I cannot go with you," she repeated in tones of the deepest distress,--"I _cannot_ go with you, for I promised my dear father the night before he died."
He looked at her for an instant, and then, drawing her close to him, he said: "It shall be just as you wish, darling. I will bring a clergyman to the house of my friend, and we will be married before you sail."
Rosa, without venturing to look up, said, in a faltering tone: "I cannot bear to bring degradation upon you, Gerald. It seems wrong to take advantage of your generous forgetfulness of yourself. When you first told me you loved me, you did not know I was an octoroon, and a--slave."
"I knew your mother was a quadroon," he replied; "and as for the rest, no circ.u.mstance can degrade _you_, my Rose Royal."
"But if your plan should not succeed, how ashamed you would feel to have us seized!" said she.
"It _will_ succeed, dearest. But even if it should not, you shall never be the property of any man but myself."
"_Property_!"! she exclaimed in the proud Gonsalez tone, striving to withdraw herself from his embrace.
He hastened to say: "Forgive me, Rosabella. I am so intoxicated with happiness that I cannot be careful of my words. I merely meant to express the joyful feeling that you would be surely mine, wholly mine."