Right and wrong were things that to him only murmured
in distrust; they would be blemishes exaggerated from simple error;
but the judgment of society would never overlook them. He must now
choose between a resolution to bear the consequences at home, or
turn his back upon all that had been near and dear to him,--be a
wanderer struggling with the eventful trials of life in a distant
land! Turning pale, as if frantic with the thought of what was
before him, the struggle to choose between the two extremes, and the
only seeming alternative, he grasped the candle that flickered
before him, gave a glance round the room, as if taking a last look
at each familiar object that met his eyes, and retired.
CHAPTER V.
THE MAROONING PARTY.
A MAROONING pic-nic had been proposed and arranged by the young
beaux and belles of the neighbouring plantations. The day proposed
for the festive event was that following the disclosure of Lorenzo's
difficulties. Every negro on the plantation was agog long before
daylight: the morning ushered forth bright and balmy, with bustle
and confusion reigning throughout the plantation,--the rendezvous
being Marston's mansion, from which the gay party would be conveyed
in a barge, overspread with an awning, to a romantic spot,
overshaded with luxuriant pines, some ten miles up the stream. Here
gay f?tes, mirth and joy, the mingling of happy spirits, were to
make the time pass pleasantly. The night passed without producing
any decision in Lorenzo's mind; and when he made his appearance on
the veranda an unusual thoughtfulness pervaded his countenance; all
his attempts to be joyous failed to conceal his trouble.
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