my time is short. I have
not lost my vessel, Catherine, BUT I HAVE LOST!--Make no reply, but
listen; I am not dead, nor yet am I alive. I hover between this world
and the world of spirits. Mark me.'

"`For nine weeks did I try to force my passage against the elements
round the stormy Cape, but without success; and I swore terribly. For
nine weeks more did I carry sail against the adverse winds and currents,
and yet could gain no ground and then I blasphemed,--ay, terribly
blasphemed. Yet still I persevered. The crew, worn out with long
fatigue, would have had me return to the Table Bay; but I refused; nay,
more, I became a murderer--unintentionally, it is true, but still a
murderer. The pilot opposed me, and persuaded the men to bind me, and
in the excess of my fury, when he took me by the collar, I struck at
him; he reeled; and, with the sudden lurch of the vessel, he fell
overboard, and sank. Even this fearful death did not restrain me; and I
swore by the fragment of the Holy Cross, preserved in that relic now
hanging round your neck, that I would gain my point in defiance of storm
and seas, of lightning, of heaven, or of hell, even if I should beat
about until the Day of Judgment.'

"`My oath was registered in thunder, and in streams of sulphurous fire.
The hurricane burst upon the ship, the canvass flew away in ribbons;
mountains of seas swept over us, and in the centre of a deep o'erhanging
cloud, which shrouded all in utter darkness, were written in letters of
livid flame, these words--UNTIL THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT.'

"`Listen to me, Catherine, my time is short. _One hope_ alone remains,
and for this am I permitted to come here. Take this letter.' He put a
sealed paper on the table. `Read it, Catherine, dear, and try if you
can assist me. Read it, and now farewell--my time is come.'

"Again the window and window-shutters burst open--again the light was
extinguished, and the form of my husband was, as it were, wafted in the
dark expanse. I started up and followed him with outstretched arms and
frantic screams as he sailed through the window;--my glaring eyes beheld
his form borne away like lightning on the wings of the wild gale, till
it was lost as a speck of light, and then it disappeared. Again the
windows closed, the light burned, and I was left alone!

"Heaven, have mercy! My brain!--my brain!--Philip!--Philip!" shrieked
the poor woman; "don't leave me--don't--don't--pray don't!"

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