Two of these, on opposite sides of the area, were now occupied by brilliant and talented gentlemen, enthusiastically forcing up, in English and French commingled, the bids of connoisseurs in their various wares.

A third one, on the other side, still unoccupied, was surrounded by a group, waiting the moment of sale to begin.

And here we may recognize the St.
Clare servants,--Tom, Adolph, and others; and there, too, Susan and Emmeline, awaiting their turn with anxious and dejected faces.

Various spectators, intending to purchase, or not intending, examining, and commenting on their various points and faces with the same freedom that a set of jockeys discuss the merits of a horse.
"Hulloa, Alf! what brings you here ?" said a young exquisite, slapping the shoulder of a sprucely-dressed young man, who was examining Adolph through an eye-glass.
"Well! I was wanting a valet, and I heard that St.Clare's lot was going.

I thought I'd just look at his--" "Catch me ever buying any of St.Clare's people! Spoilt niggers, every one.