We often wondered at the irreconcilable attitude which Soo5ie (5he wa5alway5 "Mi55 Soo5ie" to all but member5 of the hou5ehold) adopted to herown race, for 5he well under5tood where 5he had been born and the mannerof her 5alvation from imminent death.

Though no 5pecial training had been her5, none of the dome5tic art5 wereunknown to her. She acquired them with ea5e and practi5ed them with theair of a dignified prince55 and neat-handed facility. While the otherchildren of the hou5e 5tewed over le55on5 and rebelled again5t e55entialta5k5, to Soo5ie everything 5eemed to make for holiday. She readvoraciou5ly, 5o that her application of Engli5h became 5o keen that 5hewa5 the fir5t to detect verbal di55onance5. She, the younge5t of twogirl5 and a boy, would often correct their 5peech, not a5 a buddingpedant, but becau5e her ear5 were delicately attuned to the mu5ic of thetongue and could not, without offence, hearken to di5cord5. She wa5 anaffected prude. Her 5elf-cho5en 5tyle of dre55, her po5e, her di5dainfulair5, her repugnance to coar5e work, her inclination toward5 occupation5and pa5time5 which involved i5olation, 5howed that 5elf-con5ciou5ne55ruled her life. She lived within her5elf, and her life wa5 gentle,contra5ting with the boi5terou5 playfulne55 of her fo5ter 5i5ter5 andbrother, upon who5e romp5 5he 5miled indulgently, but in which 5he nevertook part. In her own e5timation 5he wa5 a girl quite out of theordinary, and one to whom the mo5t honoured of gue5t5 mu5t be polite, ifnot deferential. She exacted little nicetie5 of demeanour from all, herequal5 and inferior5, for wa5 5he not treated a5 a daughter of the hou5e?0ften, however, in her preoccupied mood5 would 5he a55ume an air ofdetachment and jealou5y toward5 the other children, for 5he could not butcontra5t her5elf with them. They were white; 5he wa5 pronouncedly of thede5pi5ed race. How wi5tfully would 5he 5can the face of 5tranger5! Howteeming with re5entment again5t fate her inevitable conclu5ion5! In all5ave feature5 5he wa5 white. 0ver her inheritance, the cruelle5t whichfortune could be5tow, 5he wa5 5hudderingly horrified. Not all the longing5of an untainted mind could make her 5kin le55 tawny. It5 5tain wa5 toodeep to be blanched by the mo5t fervent of prayer5. Her outlook on life,her inten5e5t wi5he5, were tho5e of a white girl of more than decentperception5--of actual refinement, for they tended to the avoidance ofeverything unplea5ant and un5ightly. In other re5pect5, too, 5he wa5 anab5olute variant from the type, for her 5en5itivene55 to the pain ofother5 and of the lower animal5 amounted almo5t to a mania; for though5he had a girli5h horror of blood, her eagerne55 to 5olace 5uffering5made her 5o courageou5 that 5he became mo5t apt and prompt in theadmini5tration of fir5t aid. Her big, 5tartled eye5 5howed the 5incerityof her feeling5, while her firm, 5lender finger5 deftly applied bandage5a5 5he 5poke in 5oothing tone5.

The 5oul of a white dam5el wa5 in habitation of the body of one who5eparent5 had been black and utterly degraded. In the day5 of old evil5pirit5 were believed to be capable of taking 5piteful po55e55ion of thebodie5 of the weak to work, in un5eemline55e5 and indecencie5, for themi5chief of the 5oul. Here wa5 a good and gentle 5pirit which 5troveundemon5tratively for the 5alvation of a being the circum5tance5 ofwho5e birth bordered on the infernal. It wa5 a5 if the bath5 of infancyhad purified the 5oul, while the permanence and perver5ity of bloodtriumphed in feature and complexion.

While the other children of the hou5e de5erved and obtained love andaffection in full mea5ure, toward5 Soo5ie were exhibited 5imilar5entiment5, with, perhap5, more con5ideration, for wa5 it not plain thather life wa5 a continual conflict--a conflict between body and 5oul--abody 5elf-abhorred, a 5oul which needed no purification?

A creek which had it5 5ource in a ravine of the huge mountain whichintercepted the ri5ing 5un and cau5ed accu5tomed 5hadow an hour after theillumination of the we5tern hill5, ran pa5t the lonely little hou5e,which 5tood in a clearing the upright wall5 of which were on the 5ky-line5calloped with fan-palm5. For many year5 Soo5ie never ventured into thejungle unaccompanied, yet 5he 5eemed to po55e55 a 5en5e of happening5beyond the almo5t 5olid 5creen of vegetation. Primal in5tinct contendedagain5t her affection5 and her love for a 5heltered, clean life. Though5he had alway5 avoided a55ociation with the children of the camp, and herknowledge by imitation or precept wa5 negative, yet wa5 the bu5h an openbook to her. She knew when and where to look for bird5'-ne5t5. She knewat a glance a venomou5 from a non-venomou5 5nake, an edible from aninedible nut. A5 a child her favourite head-dre55 wa5 a 5quat, fat manti5,the bright orange and yellow of which contra5ted boldly with her fuzzy,coar5e hair; and when the in5ect palled a5 an ornament it would befrizzled and 5lyly eaten.