"Yes! You gave her to me for a lady's-maid. I had been long seeking for an opportunity of repairing the injury which I did her upon that fatal day when I allowed a school-girl's folly to get the better of my reason. I have given her to her husband, Gilbert Margrave!" She rose as she said this and opened the door of an adjoining apartment, and beckoned to some one within. Gilbert Margrave and Cora Leslie entered the room. "My brother did not think of searching his own house for the runaway slave," said Adelaide, smiling. "The abduction of last night was planned by Mr. Margrave and myself, and it was agreed that he should bring her here as the last place in which her pursuers would be likely to seek her." Mortimer Percy started from his chair, and, crossing the room, clasped his cousin in his arms. "Did you indeed do this, Adelaide?" he exclaimed; "did you indeed? And will you forgive me for my conduct? Heaven knows what pain it has given me, for I have always loved you dearly." "I deserved all I have suffered, Mortimer," replied Adelaide, disengaging herself gently from her cousin's enthusiastic embrace; "but I have done all in my power to repair the error of a moment. Cora is free; free to sail for England with her betrothed husband." "Dear, generous girl," murmured the Octoroon, taking Adelaide's hand in hers; "far away, in that free and happy country, I shall remember your noble conduct." "And you shall see us in England before long, my dear Miss Leslie," said Mortimer, "if my cousin will allow her most penitent swain to conduct her on a bridal tour through Europe. Mr. Leslie, you, I suppose, will accompany your daughter to England." "I shall," replied Gerald; "thanks to the providential return of my dear friend and partner here, I shall be rich enough to establish myself on British ground, leaving to him the cares of the plantation." "Which will be heavy enough to keep him out of gambling-houses," said Philip Treverton, with a smile. Augustus Horton felt that his defeat and humiliation were complete. He had no alternative but to put the best possible face upon the matter, and he was wise enough to accept this alternative with a tolerable grace. "Mr. Margrave," he said, "let all ill will be forgotten between us. Miss Leslie will tell you that all is fair in love as in war. We have played a desperate game for the sake of yonder lady's smiles, and I have lost. So be it. I can but submit to my defeat, and congratulate you on your superior fortune. There is my hand." Gilbert and Augustus shook hands. Both men felt the hollowness of the ceremonial. Gerald Leslie's carriage, with Toby as the driver, was in waiting to convey the happy trio to Lake Pontchartrain; and in three days they were to leave Louisiana in an English steamer. Philip Treverton asked permission to accompany his old partner to the pavilion. Mortimer Percy remained with his cousin Adelaide.