It consisted, besides the housekeeper, of a tall, raw-boned, sandy-haired personage, with a low brow, a blear eye and a sneaking look, the Overseer of the plantation; and of a well-mannered, intelligent lad,—­with the peculiarly erect carriage and uncommon blending of good-natured ease and dignity which distinguished my host,—­who was introduced to me as the housekeeper’s son.

Madam P——­, who presided over the ‘tea things,’ was a person of perhaps thirty-five, but a rich olive complexion, enlivened by a delicate red-tint, and relieved by thick masses of black hair, made her appear to a casual observer several years younger.  Her face showed vestiges of great beauty, which time, and, perhaps, care, had mellowed but not obliterated, while her conversation indicated high cultivation.  She had evidently mingled in refined society in this country and in Europe, and it was a strange freak of fortune that reduced her to a menial condition in the family of a backwoods planter.

After some general conversation, the Colonel remarked that his wife and daughter would pass the winter in Charleston.

‘And do you remain on the plantation?’ I inquired.

‘Oh yes, I am needed here,’ he replied; ’but Madam’s son is with my family.’

‘Madam’s son!’ I exclaimed in astonishment, forgetting in my surprise that the lady was present.

‘Yes, sir,’ she remarked, ‘my oldest boy is twenty.’

‘Excuse me, Madam; I forgot that in your climate one never grows old.’

’There you are wrong, sir; I’m sure I feel old when I think how soon my boys will be men.’

‘Not old yet, Alice,’ said the Colonel, in a singularly familiar tone; ‘you seem to me no older than when you were fifteen.’

‘You have been long acquainted,’ I remarked, not knowing exactly what to say.

‘Oh yes,’ replied my host, ‘we were children together.’

’Your Southern country, Madam, affords a fine field for young men of enterprise.’

‘My eldest son resides in Germany,’ replied the lady.  ’He expects to make that country his home.  He would have passed his examination at Heidelberg this autumn had not circumstances called him here.’

‘You are widely separated,’ I replied.

’Yes, sir; his father thinks it best, and I suppose it is.  Thomas, here, is to return with his brother, and I may live to see neither of them again.’

My curiosity was naturally much excited to learn more, but nothing further being volunteered, and the conversation turning to other topics, I left the table with it unsatisfied.

After enjoying a quiet hour with the Colonel in the smoking-room, he invited me to join him in a ride over the plantation.  I gladly assented, and ‘Jim’ shortly announced the horses were ready.  That darky, who invariably attended his master when the latter proceeded from home, accompanied us.  As we were mounting I bethought me of Scip, and asked Jim where he was.