ansport, as he thought how soon he should
again embrace those whom he most loved on earth! But a different fate
awaited him, and tidings, which withered every hope he had so long and
fondly cherished. The ecclesiastical tyranny, which had exiled so many
of the non-conformists from their friends and country, was, at last,
extended to the elder Mr. Stanhope. His estates were confiscated, and a
warrant was issued for his imprisonment; but, with extreme difficulty,
he succeeded in effecting an escape to the sea-coast. He was there
joined by his wife; and, through the kind assistance of friends, they
collected the remains of a once ample fortune, and only waited the
arrival of their son, to quit their country forever, and embark for
New-England.

There was yet another blow, for which Arthur was wholly unprepared. Mad.
Rossville, whose health rapidly failed on the approach of cooler
weather, had died a short time previous to his return, leaving her
orphan niece under the protection of her only sister, who hastened to
England on hearing of her danger, and arrived but a few hours before her
decease. Her late cheerful abode was deserted; and Arthur could obtain
no information respecting Lucie, except that she had gone back to France
with her relative, immediately after the melancholy event.

"Gone, without one kind farewell, one word of remembrance!" was the
first bitter reflection of Arthur, on receiving this intelligence. "She,
who might have been all the world to him, whose sunny smiles could have
cheered the darkest hour of affliction,--she was gone! and, amidst the
attractions of wealth, and the charms of society and friends, how soon
might he fade from her remembrance!"

But that was not a time to indulge the regrets of a romantic passion;
the situation of his parents required the support and consolations of
filial tenderness; and no selfish indulgence could, for a moment, detain
him from them. He hastily abandoned the home of his childhood--the
scenes of maturer happiness; and, re-passing the barrier of his native
hills, in a few days rejoined his parents at the sea-port, where they
waited his arrival. They had made arrangements to take passage in the
first vessel which sailed for Boston, and Arthur did not hesitate a
moment to attend them in their arduous undertaking. For a time, indeed,
his active spirit bent beneath the pressure of disappointment, and all
places were alike indifferent to him. But the excitement of ne