we sat
down together at the door as usual.

"I think I shall go away to-morrow, or early the next morning, mother,"
said I, "for Bramble is here, and he never stays long from his work"

"That's all right, he sets a good example; and, Jack, if you do go, see
if you can't beg a few more shells for me. I like shells."

"Yes, mother, I will not forget; but, as this is the last day I shall
see you for some time, will you not keep your promise to me, and tell me
your history?"

"Jack, Jack, you are the most persevering creature I ever did see. I'm
sure I shall be worried out of my life until I tell you, and so I may as
well tell you at once, and there'll be an end of it; but I wish you had
not asked me. Jack, I do indeed. I thought of it last night when I was
in bed, and at one time I made up my mind that I would not tell you, and
then I thought again that I would; for, Jack, as I said yesterday,
there's a lesson in every life, and a warning in too many, and maybe
mine will prove a warning to you, so far as to make you prevent a mother
from being so foolish as I have been.

[Illustration: NANNY RELATING HER STORY.--Marryat, Vol. X., p. 275.]

"Now, Jack, listen to me: mine is an old story, but in most cases the
consequences have not been so fatal. I shall not tell you my name; it
was once a fair one, but now tarnished. I was the only daughter of a
merchant and ship-owner, a rich man, and the first person in consequence
in the seaport town where I was born and brought up. I never knew my
mother, who died a year after I was born. I was brought up as most girls
are who have no mother or brothers; in short, I was much indulged by my
father and flattered by other people. I was well educated, as you may
suppose; and, moreover, what you may not credit quite so easily, I was
very handsome. In short, I was a beauty and a fortune, at the head of
the society of the place, caressed, indulged, and flattered by all.
This, if it did not spoil me, at least made me willful. I had many
offers, and many intended offers, which I nipped in the bud, and I was
twenty-three before I saw any one who pleased me. At last a vessel came
in consigned to the house, and the captain was invited to dinner. He was
a handsome careless young man, constantly talking about the qualities of
his ship, and, to my surprise, paying me little or none of that
attention which I now considered as my due. This piqued me, and in the
end I set my affections on him; eith