The Octoroon by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

Camillia and Paul Lisimon were no longer children. The young heiress had attained her nineteenth year, while Don Juan's protege was, as our readers are aware, two years her senior.

Paul still lived at the Villa Moraquitos. He occupied a small but neatly furnished apartment, upon the upper floor. Here were arranged the books he loved; here he often sat absorbed in study till the early morning hours sounded from the clocks of New Orleans, and the pale stars faded in the purple river.