"
Aunt Ada could not help weeping, and exclaimed, commiseratingly, "My poor,
poor boy," as he strode up and down the room.
"The whole family, except her, seem to have the deepest contempt for
coloured people; they are constantly making them a subject of bitter jests;
they appear to have no more feeling or regard for them than if they were
brutes--and I," continued he, "I, miserable, contemptible, false-hearted
knave, as I am, I--I--yes, I join them in their heartless jests, and wonder
all the while my mother does not rise from her grave and _curse_ me as I
speak!"
"Oh! Clarence, Clarence, my dear child!" cried the terrified Aunt Ada, "you
talk deliriously; you have brooded over this until it has almost made you
crazy. Come here--sit down." And seizing him by the arm, she drew him on
the sofa beside her, and began to bathe his hot head with the Cologne
again.
"Let me walk, Aunt Ada," said he after a few moments,--"let me walk, I feel
better whilst I am moving; I can't bear to be quiet." And forthwith he
commenced striding up and down the room again with nervous and hurried
steps. After a few moments he burst out again----
"It seems as if fresh annoyances and complications beset me every day. Em
writes me that she is engaged.
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