o look
at it and think of it. You are sincere, you are in earnest, you mean all
you say. I see that in your face; but I must reflect and take counsel
upon such an important step. Go now, dear Thurston, and return to me at
this hour to-morrow morning."

Thurston pressed her hand and departed.

The same day Edith had a visit from Mrs. Waugh, Miss Thornton and other
friends. And after consulting with them upon the proposal that had been
made her, she decided to leave Miriam in the joint guardianship of Mrs.
Waugh and Thurston Willcoxen.

And this decision was made known to Thurston when he called the next
morning.

A few days after this Edith passed to the world of spirits. And Thurston
took the orphan child to his own heart and home.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

IN MERRY ENGLAND.

When Marian recovered consciousness she found herself on board ship and
a lady attending to her wants. When she was at last able to ask how she
came there the lady nurse told the following story:

"On the evening of Holy Thursday, about the time the storm arose, our
vessel lay to opposite a place on St. Mary's coast, called Pine Bluff,
and the mate put off in a boat to land a passenger; as they neared the
shore they met another boat rowed by two men, who seemed so anxious to
escape observation, as to row away as fast as they could without
answering our boat's salute. Our mate thought very strange of it at the
time; but the mysterious boat was swiftly hid in the darkness, and our
boat reached the land. The mate and his man had to help to carry the
passenger's trunks up to the top of the bluff, and a short distance
beyond, where a carriage was kept waiting for him, and after they had
parted from him, they returned down the bluff by a shorter though
steeper way; and just as they reached the beach, in the momentary lull
of the storm, they heard groans. Immediately the men connected those
sounds with the strange boat they had seen row away, and they raised the
wick in the lantern, and threw its light around, and soon discovered you
upon the sands, moaning, though nearly insensible. They naturally
concluded that you had been the victim of the men in the boat, who were
probably pirates. Their first impulse was to pursue the carriage, and
get you placed within it, and taken to some farmhouse for assistance;
but a moment's reflection convinced them that such a plan was futile, as
it was impossible to overtake the carriage. There was also no house