ship
was making its way into the harbour of Gladstonopolis. I turned my
face towards it and gazed, and then a sudden thought struck me. How
would it be with me if this were some great English vessel coming
into our harbour on the very day of Crasweller's deposition? A year
since I would have rejoiced on such an occasion, and would have
assured myself that I would show to the strangers the grandeur of
this ceremony, which must have been new to them. But now a creeping
terror took possession of me, and I felt my heart give way within me.
I wanted no Englishman, nor American, to come and see the first day
of our Fixed Period.

It was evident that Crasweller did not see the smoke; but to my eyes,
as we progressed, it became nearer, till at last the hull of the
vast vessel became manifest. Then as the carriage passed on into the
street of Gladstonopolis at the spot where one side of the street
forms the quay, the vessel with extreme rapidity steamed in, and I
could see across the harbour that she was a ship of war. A certain
sense of relief came upon my mind just then, because I felt sure that
she had come to interfere with the work which I had in hand; but how
base must be my condition when I could take delight in thinking that
it had been interrupted!

By this time we had been joined by some eight or ten carriages,
which formed, as it were, a funeral _cortege_ behind us. But I could
perceive that these carriages were filled for the most part by young
men, and that there was no contemporary of Crasweller to be seen at
all. As we went up the town hill, I could espy Barnes gibbering on
the doorstep of his house, and Tallowax brandishing a large knife in
his hand, and Exors waving a paper over his head, which I well knew
to be a copy of the Act of our Assembly; but I could only pretend not
to see them as our carriage passed on.

The chief street of Gladstonopolis, running through the centre of
the city, descends a hill to the level of the harbour. As the vessel
came in we began to ascend the hill, but the horses progressed very
slowly. Crasweller sat perfectly speechless by my side. I went on
with a forced smile upon my face, speaking occasionally to this or
the other neighbour as we met them. I was forced to be in a certain
degree cheerful, but grave and solemn in my cheerfulness. I was
taking this man home for that last glorious year which he was about
to pass in joyful anticipation of a happier life; and therefore I
m