IN THE SHADOW
lines; a graceful, well-worded message in which the Haytian expressed the hope that Miss Moultrie and his friend Giles had suffered no ill effects from the accident; he expressed also a sincere gratitude to the wise Providence which had directed his steps toward the scene of the accident, and ended by regretting that an engagement, demanding his presence in town that afternoon, alone prevented his calling in person.
"A very gentlemanly note," commented Sir Henry. "You say that he is quite black, Giles?"
"Quite. But I fancy he's no end of a swell in his own country; he is a Count Dessalines; Dessalines, you know, was the liberator of Hayti, the George Washington, the Bolivar, and Aristide is, I think, a descendant. He has plenty of money; in fact, he told me once that he was very rich. Free-handed chap—no idea whatever of economy—lives like a prince; had ripping apartments at Oxford, and he has a French man servant. …"
"A white man?" asked Manning sharply.
"To be sure. A little spadger of a Frenchman … looks like a crow, but as bright as they make 'em; seems to spend most of his time in admiring Aristide. What?"
"Br'r'r'gh!" Manning arose quickly and walked to the window. Virginia was the only one who caught a glimpse of his face, and although what she saw there was not pleasant it found echo in herself. The idea of a white man, no matter of how low a caste, ministering to the needs, the bodily needs, of a negro was forcefully repellent. As a type, a magnificent animal, a laborer sweating beneath a burden which would crush most men, or covered with the muck of the field and laboring perhaps half naked beneath the lash of an overseer, the great Hay-
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