"I'll have her brought back," he cried, "and lashed as a runaway slave. I'll have her advertised in every paper in Louisiana. I'll spend every dollar I possess rather than let her escape me, and I'll make Gilbert Margrave pay dearly for his insolence." Silas and the planter found Adelaide Horton and Mrs. Montresor seated beneath the veranda on the morning room, which opened into a small garden. The weather was so warm, that the two ladies had left the interior of the apartment for the airy shade of this veranda. We have not seen Adelaide Horton since the scene on board the Selma--that disgraceful scene, in which the young girl had suffered the pangs of jealousy to goad her to an action unworthy the better feelings of her impulsive nature. Bitter and immediate had been the punishment which followed that action. Despised by the man she loved, cast off by her cousin and affianced husband, Mortimer Percy; harassed with the tortures of self-reproach, the unhappy girl had ample cause for painful reflection and regret. She would have made any sacrifice to recall her words of denunciation the moment after their utterance. The memory of her old friendship for Cora Leslie stung her to the heart, and the mildly reproachful gaze of the Octoroon haunted her perpetually. Mrs. Montresor had done her best to console her niece; but Adelaide's gayety and light-heartedness had entirely deserted her. She was no longer the same high-spirited girl who had arrived two months before in New Orleans. The ladies looked up from their work as Augustus and the lawyer approached them. Adelaide perceived her brother's ill-concealed agitation, and asked the cause of it. He related his adventure on the quay. "Then Cora and Gilbert Margrave have left for Saint Louis?" "They have," answered Augustus with an oath, "but they shall not long escape me. Listen to me, Adelaide; you may wonder at the passion I feel upon this subject, but my pride has been humiliated by the cool insolence of the Octoroon, and whatever motive I may have had for my conduct at the slave sale yesterday, I have now no purpose but that of bringing Cora Leslie's haughty spirit to the dust. I will have her found and brought back to New Orleans, and I will give her to you as your lady's-maid. I know that there is little love lost between you, and that I could not easily inflict a greater humiliation upon my fine lady." "And you will give her to me?" exclaimed Adelaide with evident delight. "Yes. I thought you'd like the idea." "You will give me Cora Leslie?" "I will. The girl cost me fifty thousand dollars, but I care for nothing now but revenge. Make her your lady's maid--bring her nose to the grind-stone--let her feel what it is to be the slave of the woman who hates her." "I will gladly accept your gift, Augustus," said Adelaide, eagerly; "but I fear that you will change your mind." "No, indeed!"