hemselves, have enjoyed all the
blessings afforded by the gospel dispensation.

But I must go back to my history. Captain and Mrs Clayton were
accompanied by a young lady, a distant relative, left without any other
friends to protect and support her. She was a laughing, blue-eyed girl,
and was now seated with several other young ladies of about the same age
on a circle of cushions on the deck, shouts of merriment rising every
now and then from the happy group. There were several other people who
had been in India before--military and civil officers of the Company,
merchants, lawyers, and clergymen; but I need not more particularly
describe them.

Ellen Barrow, Mrs Clayton's charge, was not only sweetly pretty, but
good and amiable in every respect. I do not know that she had what is
called a regular feature in her face; but her sunny smile, and an
expression which gave sure indication of a good disposition, made those
who saw her think her far more beautiful than many ladies whose
countenances were in other respects faultless. I praise her from having
known her well, and all the excellencies of her character, as they were
in after-years more fully developed. At present her most intimate
friends would probably have said little more about her than that she was
a nice, pretty-looking, happy girl.

There was another person on board, of whom I must by no means omit to
speak, and that is Captain Willis. He was a very gentlemanly man, both
in appearance and manners, as indeed he was by birth; nor had the rough
school in which he was educated left a trace behind.

He was the son of a merchant of excellent family connections and his
mother was, I believe, a lady of rank. When he was about the age of
fourteen, both his parents died, leaving him perfectly penniless, for
his father had just before that event failed and lost all his property.
He had had, fortunately, the opportunity of obtaining an excellent
education, and he had profited by it and this gave him an independence
of feeling--which he could not otherwise justly have enjoyed. He was
also a lad of honest spirit; his relations had quarrelled with his
parents, and treated them, he considered, unjustly; so that his heart
rebelled at the idea of soliciting charity from them, and he at once
resolved to fight his own way in the world.

He had always had a strong predilection for a sea life, and he was on
the point of going into the Royal Navy when his father's mi