"Dear little Eva,—poor child!" Her father folded her suddenly in his arms, and almost forgot what he was going to tell her. And Tom loves his children; and it's dreadful, papa, that such things are happening, all the time! Well, seeing I'm in the hands of a Yankee, there is nothing for it but to concede;" and St. Clare rapidly wrote off a deed of gift, which, as he was well versed in the forms of law, he could easily do, and signed his name to it in sprawling capitals, concluding by a tremendous flourish.Miss Ophelia, who seldom sat much in Marie's company, followed him into the parlor, having first carefully laid away the paper.St. Clare took the book and glanced at the place, and began reading one of the passages which Tom had designated by the heavy marks around it. Clare was a good deal affected at the sight of it; the little book had been rolled in a long strip of black crape, torn from the funeral weeds. "We does for the Lord when we does for his critturs," said Tom. ""Well, I have, these ten years. ""If you knew all this," said Miss Ophelia, "why didn't you do it? And, so musing, he fell asleep, and dreamed he saw her coming bounding towards him, just as she used to come, with a wreath of jessamine in her hair, her cheeks bright, and her eyes radiant with delight; but, as he looked, she seemed to rise from the ground; her cheeks wore a paler hue,—her eyes had a deep, divine radiance, a golden halo seemed around her head,—and she vanished from his sight; and Tom was awakened by a loud knocking, and a sound of many voices at the gate. she said.Tom looked at the child with awe; and when she, hearing her father's voice, glided away, he wiped his eyes many times, as he looked after her. I ought to know such things, I ought to feel about them! I've had that, years and years; it's only a nervous affection. ""Yes, dear, I will do anything in the world,--anything you could ask me to."St. "I have great hopes of her; but, Augustine," she said, laying her hand on his arm, "one thing I want to ask; whose is this child to be?—yours or mine? "Why, dear child, what has made your poor little heart so sad? "You never leave me any time for general reflections, Cousin; you always bring me short up against the actual present; you have a kind of eternal These lines have been thus rather inadequately translated:"I don't know," said St. Clare. Tom and Miss Ophelia alone seemed to have any presence of mind; for Marie was in strong hysteric convulsions. "Poor creatures!" But, now that Eva was fairly and visibly prostrated, and a doctor called, Marie, all on a sudden, took a new turn. I thought Cousin was too pious for such horrid things," she added, as she carelessly wrote her name; "but, if she has a fancy for that article, I am sure she's welcome. I am not nervous,--I am not low-spirited. "We does for the Lord when we does for his critturs," said Tom.Miss Ophelia turned it out. Then he thought of his noble young master, and, ever second to that, came the habitual prayer that he had always offered for him; and then his thoughts passed on to the beautiful Eva, whom he now thought of among the angels; and he thought till he almost fancied that that bright face and golden hair were looking upon him, out of the spray of the fountain. cousin," said Augustine. ""O, nonsense! I've told Missis so, many the time; it's a comin' true,--we all sees it,--dear, little, blessed lamb! For how imperiously, how coolly, in disregard of all one's feeling, does the hard, cold, uninteresting course of daily realities move on! Here she was, with her wretched health, and her only darling child going down to the grave before her eyes;"--and Marie routed up Mammy nights, and rumpussed and scolded, with more energy than ever, all day, on the strength of this new misery.St. "Ah, Tom, you soft, silly boy! Read Uncle Tom's Cabin by author Harriet Beecher Stowe, FREE, online. "No, no, Mas'r! "I shall come after you. "Tom, you seem to think the Lord needs a great deal done for him," said St. Clare, smiling. Clare. Eva's step was again in the garden,--in the balconies; she played and laughed again,--and her father, in a transport, declared that they should soon have her as hearty as anybody. "Can't you take my word?