y of persuasion and menace; but am defeated. So now it
rests with you. You alone can save us all. I will tell you how, if you
will restrain your repugnance, and accord me a short interview. Need I
say that no other subject shall be introduced by me? In England, should
we ever reach it, I may perhaps try to take measures to regain your good
opinion; but here, I am aware, that is impossible; and I shall make no
attempt in that direction, upon my honor."

To this came a prompt and feminine reply.

"The ship is Mr. Arthur Wardlaw's. The captain and the mate are able men,
appointed by him. Your suspicions of these poor men are calumnies, and of
a piece with your other monstrous slanders.

"I really must insist on your holding no further communications of any
sort with one to whom your character is revealed and odious.

H. R."

This letter benumbed his heart at first. A letter? It was a blow; a blow
from her he loved, and she hated him!

His long-suffering love gave way at last. What folly and cruelty
combined! He could no longer make allowances for the spite of a woman
whose lover had been traduced. Rage and despair seized him; he bit his
nails and tore his hair with fury, and prayed Heaven to help him hate her
as she deserved, "the blind, insolent idiot!" Yes, these bitter words
actually came out of his mouth, in a torrent of injury.

But to note down all he said in his rage would be useless; and might
mislead, for this was a gust of fury; and, while it lasted, the
long-suffering man was no longer himself.

As a proof how little this state of mind was natural to him, it stirred
up all the bile in his body, and brought on a severe attack of yellow
jaundice, accompanied by the settled dejection that marks that disorder.

Meantime the _Proserpine_ glided on, with a fair wind, and a contented
crew. She was well found in stores, and they were served out
ungrudgingly.

Every face on board beamed with jollity, except poor Hazel's. He crept
about, yellow as a guinea; a very scarecrow.

The surgeon, a humane man, urged him to drink sherry, and take strong
exercise.

But persons afflicted with that distressing malady are obstinately set
against those things which tend to cure it; this is a feature of the
disease. Mr. Hazel was no exception. And then his heart had received so
many blows it had no power left to resist the depressing effect of his
disorder. He took no exercise; he ate little food. He lay, listless and