d his
neck, hastened towards him to put it to rights, and he was silent.

The hour had now arrived when the families separated for the night.
Mary was preparing as usual to recite the evening prayer, but before
doing so she whispered a few words in her mother's ear.

"Yes, my child;" and, turning to Frank, she added, "Since you are
determined to adopt the ministry as a profession, it is but right that
we should for the future entrust ourselves to your prayers."

The two families were now located in their respective eyries; and
Jack, whilst escorting the Wolstons to the foot of their tree, said to
Sophia,

"I thought the chimpanzee had been playing some prank."

"So he has. Has nobody told you of it?"

"No, not a soul."

"Then I will be as discreet as my neighbors; good night, Master Jack."

CHAPTER XIII.

HERBERT AND CECILIA--THE LITTLE ANGELS--A CATASTROPHE--THE
DEPARTURE--MARRIAGE OF THE DOGE WITH THE ADRIATIC--SOVEREIGNS OF THE
SEA--DANTE AND BEATRIX--ELEONORA AND TASSO--LAURA AND PETRARCH--THE
RETURN--SURPRISES--WHAT ONE FINDS IN TURBOTS--A HORROR--THE
PRICE OF CRIME--BALLOONING--PHILIPSON AND THE CHOLERA--A
METAMORPHOSIS--ADVENTURE OF THE CHIMPANZEE--ARE YOU RICH?

Next day the sky was shrouded in dense masses of cloud, some grey as
lead, some livid as copper, and some black as ink. Towards evening the
two families, as usual, resolved themselves into a talking party, and
Wolston, requesting them to listen, began as follows:--

"There were two rich merchants in Bristol, between whom a very close
intimacy had for a long time existed. One of them, whom I shall call
Henry Foster, had a daughter; and the other, Nicholas Philipson, had a
son, and the two fathers had destined these children for one another.
The boy was a little older than the girl, and their tastes, habits,
and dispositions seemed to fit them admirably for each other, and so
to ratify the decision of the parents. Little Herbert and Cecilia were
almost constantly together. They had a purse in common, into which
they put all the pieces of bright gold they received as presents on
birthdays and other festive occasions. In summer, when the two
families retired to a retreat that one of them had in the country, the
children were permitted to visit the cottagers, and to assist the
distressed, if they chose, out of their own funds--a permission which
they availed themselves of so liberally that they were called by the
country people the two l