'The rosin transaction had been gone into. I had used up what blank indorsements I had. Needing more, and wanting to consult with Joe about selling the rosin, I went to Mobile. It was five weeks ago. I arrived there about dark, and put up at the Battle House. Joe had boarded there. I was told he had left, and gone to housekeeping. A negro conducted me to a small house in the outskirts of the town. He said Joe lived there. Wishing to surprise him, I went in without knocking. The house had two parlors, separated by folding doors. In the back one a young woman was clearing away the tea things; in the front one, Joe was seated by the fire, with a young child on his knee. I put my hand on his shoulder, and said: 'Joe, whose child have you here?' He looked up, and laughingly said: 'Why, father, you ought to know; you've seen it before!' I looked closely at it--it was Rosey's! I said so. 'Yes, father,' he replied; 'and there's Rosey herself. Larkin promised she should have a kind master, and--he kept his word.' The truth flashed upon me--the child was his! My only son had seduced his _own sister_! I staggered back in horror. I told him who Rosey was, and then'--no words can express the intense agony depicted on his face as he said this--'then he cursed me! O my God! HE CURSED ME!' I pitied him, I could but pity him; and I said: 'Do not be so cast down, my friend. I once heard you say: 'The Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting!'' 'But he cannot have mercy on some!' he cried. '_My_ sins have been too great; they cannot be blotted out. I embittered the life of my wife; I have driven my daughter from her home; sold my own child; made my generous, noble-hearted boy do a horrible crime--a crime that will haunt him forever. Oh! the curse of God is on me. My misery is greater than I can bear.' 'No, my friend; God curses none of his creatures. You have reaped what you have sown, that is all; but you have suffered enough. Better things, believe me, are in store for you.' 'No, no; everything is gone--wife, children, all! I am alone--the past, nothing but remorse; the future, ruin and dishonor!' 'But Selly is left you. _She_ will always love you.' 'No, no! Even Selly would curse me, if she knew _all_!' No one spoke for a full half hour, and he continued pacing up and down the room. When, at last, he seated himself, more composed, I asked: 'What became of Rosey and the child?' 'I do not know. I was shut in my room for several days. When I got out, I was told Joe had freed her, and she had disappeared, no one knew whither. I tried every means to trace her, but could not. At the end of a week, I went home, what you see me--a broken-hearted man.' The next morning, despite our urgent entreaties, he returned to the South. * * * * *