Page:The Partisan (revised).djvu/152

 "But you are well attended here, Emily, my dear. Cousin Kate&mdash;"

"Is a sister, and all that I could desire, and I am as well attended as I could be anywhere; but it is thus that we repine. I only wished for mauma, as we wish for an old-time prospect which has grown so familiar to our eyes that it seems to form a part of the sight: so indeed, though every thing is beautiful and delightful about 'The Oaks,' I still long to ramble over our old walks among the 'Hills.'"

The brow of Singleton blackened as she thus passingly alluded to the beautiful estate of his fathers; but he said nothing, or evaded, in his answer, the demand,&mdash;and she proceeded in her inquiries&mdash;

"And the garden, Robert&mdash;my garden, you know. Do, when you go back, see that Luke keeps the box trimmed, and the hedge; the morning I left it, it looked very luxuriant. I was too hurried to give him orders, but do you attend to it when you return. He is quite too apt to leave it to itself."

There was much in these simple matters to distress her brother, of which she was fortunately ignorant. How could he say to the dying girl, that her mauma, severely beaten by the tories, had fled into the swamps for shelter?&mdash;that her favourite dog, Frill, had been shot down, as he ran, by the same brutal wretches?&mdash;that the mansion-house of her parents, her favourite garden, had been devastated by fire, applied by the same cruel hands?&mdash;that Luke the gardener, and all the slaves who remained unstolen, had fled for safety into the thick recesses of the Santee?&mdash;how could he tell her this? The ruin which had harrowed his own soul almost to madness, would have been instant death to her; and though the tears were with difficulty kept back from his eyes, he replied calmly, and with sufficient evasion successfully to deceive the sufferer.

At this moment Katharine re-entered the apartment, and relieved him by her presence. He rose from the bench, and prepared to attend upon his uncle, who, as yet unapprised of his arrival, remained in his chamber. He bent down, and his lips were pressed once more upon the brow of his sister. She put her hand into his, and looked into his face for several minutes without speaking; and that look&mdash;so pure, so bright, so fond&mdash;so becoming of heaven, yet so