"Well, then, if you think I ought to go, I'll say yes," he replied; "but I had thought to spend the last night here with you."

"I shan't have done work much before ten myself," said the vicar; "for I must see about the beef and bread for the pensioners, and there's the new silver money and the cakes for the school children, and no end of things. So we'll meet at a late supper; don't stay to the club pies and sausages, but get back in time for ours. There's no need to say don't drink too much of the 'George and Gate' ale and grog, for you never take much of either, so far as I know."

It was a special evening at the "George and Gate," and every member of the club who could leave his shop was there by eight o'clock. The low-ceilinged but handsome parlour was all bright with holly, and the plate stood on a sideboard ready for supper. Two noble punchbowls graced the table, and two sheaves of spotless churchwarden pipes supported the large brass coffer filled with tobacco, which opened only by some cunning mechanism, set in motion by dropping a halfpenny in a slit at the top. Mr. Binks was in the chair; Clodd, the butcher, sat opposite; a great fragrance of spice and lemon peel pervaded the place. It only needed a speech to commence the proceedings, and Mr. Binks was equal to the occasion. It was a hearty welcome to the vicar's guest. He responded with a few words and a recitation. There was a song and another toast, and then the accomplished visitor played on the "George and Gate" fiddle in a manner that astonished everybody-played it behind his back, over his head, under his arm, between his knees with the bow in his mouth. The fun was uproarious till he repeated a poem with a tragedy in it; then he showed a few tricks with the cards, spun plates, passed coins and watches into space, and sang a song with a violin accompaniment. The evening was in his honour, and he opened his whole repertoire of accomplishments. Time passed quickly; the waiters were at the door with the tablecloths ready to lay for supper. There were just glasses round left in the punch bowl. Mr. Clodd proposed "The Health of the Vicar." They all rose to do it honour, and called upon De Montfort to reply. He had his glass in his hand-just touching it with his lips. "I wish," he said, and then he stopped; "I wish-I could say what I would do to deserve that he should call me his friend," he said; "but-it-can-never-be." They wondered what he would say next, there was such a strange look in his eyes. They were about to ask him what he meant, when everybody there was startled by a sudden cry in the street-a sudden cry and an uproar that penetrated to the inn-yard-the cry of "Fire!" and the trampling of feet. They

were all out in a minute, De Montfort first, and without his hat.

"It's your place, Raspall, as I'm a living sinner," said Clodd, forcing himself to the front and commencing to run.

"Don't say so! Don't say so!" cried the baker, "for my missis is up at the school makin' the cakes, and the man's down below settin' the batch, and my little Bess is in bed this hour an' more! Good ! Oh, help help! where's that engine?" But the key of the engine house had to be found, and the wretched old squirt had to be wheeled out, and the hose attached and righted; and before all this could be done, the flame which seemed to have begun at the back of Raspall's shop, had burst through the shutters, and was already lapping the outer wall. It was an oldfashioned house, with a high, ricketty portico over the door, and a tall, narrow window a good way above it.

At this window, where the flicker of the flame was reflected through the smoke that was now pouring out and blackening the old woodwork, a glimpse of a child's face had been seen, and Raspall was already in the roadway wringing his hands and calling for a ladder.

"We must get her down from the top of that there portico," cried Clodd; "but I'm too heavy. Here; who'll jump a' top of my back, and so try to clamber up?"

"Stand away there!" shouted a strong, deep voice; and almost before they could move aside a man shot past them like a catapult, and with one bound had reached the carved cornice of the portico with his right hand. The whole structure quivered, but in another moment he had drawn himself up with the ease of a practised acrobat, and was standing on the top. It was De Montfort.

The window was still far above him, and the glare within showed that the fire had reached the room; but a gutter ran down the wall to the leaden roof of the portico, and he was seen through the smoke to clasp it by a rusty projection and to draw his chin on a level with the sill, to cling to the sill itself with his arm and elbow, and with one tremendous effort to sit there amidst the smoke and to force the sash upward. They had scarcely had time to cry out that he had entered the room when he was out again-pursued by the flame that now roared from the open space, but with something under his arm. Somebody had brought out a large blanket, and four men were holding it; the engine was just beginning to play feebly where it wasn't wanted; and a short ladder had been borrowed from somewhere. He dropped a little heavily from the window, but was on his feet when they called to him to let the child fall, and a cheer went up as he seemed to gather up his

A score of strong and willing hands lifted the wreck away piecemeal, and, under the direction of the doctor, got him out, and placed him on a hurdle made soft with blankets and straw. He was insensible, but his face and head were uninjured, for he was found lying with his arms protecting both. Carefully they bore him to the vicarage, the vicar following, and his sister already at the door with everything ready.

It was nearly an hour before the sad group of men who stood outside anxiously waiting heard that he was so seriously injured that his life was in danger, and that he was still unconscious.

morning he would let them know if there was any change.

There was a change, but only after long efforts to restore consciousness; and the vicar himself sat by the injured man's bedside, with something in his hand upon which his tears fell as he looked at it by the light of the shaded lamp. When De Montfort had been carried in and placed upon the bed the doctor had asked to be allowed to undress him-without help as it required a practised hand, and for a moment the vicar left the room to bring up some restorative and the bandages which had been sent for to the surgery. He had turned into the dining-room, when to his surprise the

doctor came quickly but softly downstairs, entered the room, and gently closed the door.

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Do you feel that you could bear another great shock just now?" he said, in a curious tone, taking hold of the vicar's wrist as he spoke. "Yes, I think you can; your nerves are pretty firm."

"What do you mean? Is he dead?"

"No; but I have undressed him, and under his shirt near his heart found something which I think you ought to see. I may be mistaken, but I seldom miss observing a likeness, especially one so strong as this "-and he held out a locket attached to a silken cord and holding a likeness.

The vicar trembled as he stretched out his hand for it. Some prevision of the truth had already flashed upon him; and as he carried the trinket to the candle above the mantelpiece, he leaned heavily against the wall and groaned as though he had been smitten with sudden pain.

"A man like that could scarcely have been cruel to a woman, at all events," said the doctor, in a low but emphatic tone. "Poverty is not the worst of human ills, and even occasional want, if it be not too prolonged, is endurable-more endurable than brutal neglect and indifference. This poor fellow was going home to his child, I think?"

The vicar clasped the young man's hand, and bent his noble grey head upon his shoulder.

"Take my thanks, my dear friend," he said, with a sob. "You have recalled me to myself. He was my sister's husband."

As the vicar sat by the bedside on the Christmas Eve, watching, the injured man moved and tried to raise himself, but fell back with a heavy sigh.

The good parson was bending over him in a moment.

Shall I fetch the doctor again?" he asked. "No; I must speak to you now, alone."

It was nearly an hour before the vicar went to the stair-head, and called for his sister and the doctor to come up; but we never heard quite what took place-what was the conversation between the vicar and his guest. But the next day the vicar went to London, and before the new year a plain funeral went from the vicarage to the old churchyard, and the curate conducting the Burial Service had to stop with his handkerchief to his eyes, for in the church, clad in deep mourning, was a little girl whose silent sobbing was only hushed when the aunt whom she had but just found took her in her arms and pressed the little pale face to her bosom.

Nobody knew what name was on the locket, for it was replaced where it so long had rested, and was buried when the heart beneath it had ceased to beat; but the name afterwards carved on the tombstone was not De Montfort.

the scenery on each side of the banks. St. Vincent's rocks presented a sublime object on the right side; "I shall never forget this scene," she observed, "it is so impressive." She did not then know that a time was not far distant, when her abode would be under such a rock, equally precipitous, but more gigantic.

The wind was fair; we sailed down the Bristol Channel, with fine weather and smooth water. It blew fresh from the north-west, after passing Lundy Island. Eliza was very sick, and the captain was in bad humour, so that we were far from comfortable; but the wind changed again, and with it returned our lively sense of present happiness. In three weeks we got into the trade winds; in little more than five weeks, we passed through the Mona passage, between Porto Rico and Hispaniola; and on the day six weeks of quitting the Bristol Channel, we made the east end of Jamaica. We were charmed by the superb face of the whole country. The sky was brilliant and cloudless, the breeze fair and refreshing our spirits were proportionally buoyant; and as the vessel ran along shore for Port Royal, all the next day our delight was kept alive by the newness and vastness of the scenery which lay upon our right. A negro pilot came on board, as we neared Port Royal. Eliza was a good deal struck by his appearance and way of speaking, which, being

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nothing new to me, I hardly noticed; but to her he was, at that moment, the representative of the whole negro population. We soon hauled round Port Royal point, the sandy foundation of a small town of little importance. But many years ago, on the space we now sailed over, its ancestor had stood, which, they say, like Sodom and Gomorrah, having become the seat of all licentiousness, was swallowed up by an earthquake in 1692.

thoroughly wetted to the skin, before I could get off deck. I had scarcely entered the cabin, when the wind arose with such violence, that the brig in an instant seemed on her beam en-i-. At this moment I thought I heard some one fall down the companion ladder; and going to see who or what it was that had made the unlucky tumble, I found my two goats, which some one had thrown there out of the way, as the door was immediately closed down after them, to keep the sea from rolling into the cabin.

I now endeavoured to console my wife, who bestowed reciprocal consolations on myself. “God will preserve us!" said she; "I feel that we are safe, notwithstanding this dreadful

The brig was under weigh at eleven o'clock, and we ran down to Port Royal, a distance of eight or nine miles, in little more than an hour. With the same fine breeze, we stood out to sea, and shaped our course to the southward, to keep clear of the Pedro shoals; and we found by our reckoning on Tuesday at noon, that we must have run nearly two hundred miles during the last, twenty-four hours.

The wind now veered to the N.E. and N.N.E. in squalls, looking sometimes very black to windward. Towards evening I requested the captain' to lay to under easy sail till daylight, as we were now approaching the main land, where the shoals and rocks were numerous, and not accurately laid down on the chart; but although he made her snug, he would keep his course, to get in under the island of Rattan in the morning, if possible; and I was obliged to yield to his determination. One of the men said we should have a hurricane: "The hurricane months are over, you blackguard," replied the captain, angrily. The man, however, appeared to know what he was talking about, and I, for one, believed him; but the captain laughed at him, after his choler had subsided. I then thought it quite time to insist on the dead lights being put in, to secure the cabin windows against the violence of the sea, if it should break up against them; and they were scarcely secured, when it began to thunder and rain in torrents. My poor dear wife had been induced to go below a little before the storm came on, by the sudden and awful blackness of the sky; and although I did not remain five minutes after her, I was

shall die together, and we shall not be separated: we shall meet where we can part no more " Her feelings now overpowered her, and she fell on my neck and wept. I kissed away the tears from her eyes, saying, "We will trust in the Almighty,"

I wanted to go on deck, but was not able to effect it. I, however, got the people there to open one of the side doors a little, and I peeped out. The wind howled horribly, and the sea was all in a foam. Two of the hands, and the yawl, had been washed overboard. We continued to be driven by the storm for eight or ten hours, I cannot tell in what direction; but about two or three o'clock in the morning, they called out, "Breakers! breakers! land! breakers!" Hearing this, I got up the ladder to the companion door. All was again fast down, and they could not open it. In a few minutes the vessel struck, and we, who were below, were thrown violently on the cabin floor. The poor dog, our faithful Fidele, howled mournfully as he was driven to the further end of the cabin. "We are indeed lost!" said my wife, as she recovered a little from the fall she had just received. I did not now wait to console her by my words: I renewed my efforts to force the companion door, and get upon deck ; but they could not hear me for the noise made by the howling of the wind and the breaking of the sea; yet I sometimes heard them, and could discover that they were making ready to get the long boat over the gunwale to escape. I now became frantic; and hallooed with all my power, but to no purpose. By accident I stumbled over an empty stone bottle at the foot of the ladder, with which I struck the companion door so violently that I succeeded in arresting the attention of the captain. He unbolted it, telling me at the same time, "We are all lost!" but that the men were trying to launch the long boat, our only chance; and if Mrs. Seaward and I chose to go, we must be up in a second; for, "look there!" said he, crying out at the same time, "another

shove, lads, and she's all our own!"-the long boat was launched, and I returned down the ladder with all speed. The moment I rejoined my dear wife, I urged her instantly to accompany me to the deck, telling her our situation. "No!" said she, "I will not stir, and you will not stir; they must all perish; a boat cannot endure this storm. Let us trust in God, Edward," continued she, "and if we die, we die together.""It is done," I replied; "we will not stir."- "Then tell them so," cried she, hastily; "and if you can lay your hand on the bread-bag in your way, it may be useful to them, if they survive this hour." I ascended; but no boat was to be seen, yet now and then I thought I heard the voices of the miserable crew at some distance, on the brig's quarter; and sometimes I fancied I saw them, when the strong lightning's glare lighted up everything around for an instant. The brig soon took the ground on a reef within, and heeled over, which threw me down the ladder. My wife hastened to my assistance, but was herself thrown to the other side of the cabin. More than an hour passed away with us thus, in dismal darkness below; but we enjoyed the light of God's presence, and were resigned to his will.

We sat endeavouring to keep our position, and so remained till the heaving motion of the vessel gradually subsided, and at length became scarcely perceptible; but she continued to lie over nearly on her beam-ends. I now again thought it right to reach the deck; on ascending the ladder, I pushed open the lee half of the companion door, when a gleam of joy rushed upon me, on perceiving that the day had dawned, and that the water to leeward was quite smooth. There was high land a-head and a-stern, and a fine sandy beach abreast of us, little more than a mile off. I hastened below to my wife, into the dark cabin, exclaiming, "Come on deck; it is daylight!" Without a word, she ascended the ladder. On emerging from darkness into light, her feelings overcame her, and she poured forth her heart to God. After a few moments of abstraction, "Where is the boat and our poor companions?" she exclaimed; "I do not see them!"-" Perhaps," I replied, "they are safely landed on yon beach, and will soon return to take us out of the vessel." I now looked earnestly around me: the mainmast was gone, but the stump was standing; all the fowls in the coop to leeward were drowned: the ducks, which were in the other coop, survived, and also four fowls; yet these seemed more dead than alive. All was desolation on deck and aloft; but the morning smiled serenely on us, while a gentle calm spread itself over the ocean all around.

The land astern seemed high, and well-wooded; but our eyes were attracted by the smooth sandy

shore, where we wished and hoped to be; and our attention became gradually riveted on a promontory, distant about three miles, upon which the rising sun shone directly. We looked in every direction for the boat, but in vain; and then sad misgivings for the fate of the crew crossed our mind, which extended to ourselves; for we depended on them as a means, and, indeed, the only probable means, of our own escape from this unknown shore. I fortunately thought I would try the pumps. I went to work, and kept pumping till I was quite exhausted, and the water still came up as abundantly as ever. I concluded the brig's bottom must be stove in, so that if we should beat off the reef into deep water, we must sink and go down.

About ten o'clock in the forenoon, the breeze began to set in from the sea, nearly E.N.E., and the brig worked fore and aft. I told my wife what my fears were, and that if it so happened, we must endeavour to climb the fore-rigging, and take the chance from thence of any escape that might offer.

The sea-breeze freshened, and in half an hour the brig's stern swung off into deep water, and she hung by the bow. She now righted; I therefore immediately went to see if the rudder was gone, which I had every reason to expect, but it was not; and at this I rejoiced greatly, exclaiming, "The rudder is safe; that's well!" At length the brig broke adrift, having most likely torn off her false keel forward, and perhaps some of the coral rock which had held her. I was now all amaze; I did not know what to do. The brig continued to drift in upon a point of rock, on which I expected to be dashed in pieces, but the current directed us past it to the southward, down towards the height which we had so attentively fixed our eyes on early in the morning. I was desirous to get the brig under some command; and, finding the forestaysail yet untorn, I got the weather sheet over, and was able to set the sail the vessel's head now paid off, and she would steer; I therefore made up my mind to keep on as far as I could with safety, hoping to see some inlet. She went along cleverly, not being at all water-logged, and consequently in no danger of sinking; hence on that score my great fear was removed. I soon approached the mountainous promontory, which seemed to stand up before us to obstruct our further progress: I therefore determined to bump her on shore; and I ran for the beach close under the promontory. How great was my joy when I discovered an inlet, not twice the vessel's breadth. I pushed into it, and in a few minutes found myself at the end of a little cove. Here the brig struck, and stuck fast with her bow the shock threw myself and my wife

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