against the wall, he folded his arms, and stood as if uncertain of the issue.

Whatever the secret might have been, it had evidently done little to assuage the alarm of Meg; the unusual pallor of her cheeks continued, and as she gazed on the coffin, there was a fierce scrutiny mixed with doubt and abhorrence in her glance. A momentary shudder passed, and seemed to relieve her bosom of its load,—and then, drawing her finely moulded figure to its proudest height, as if she scorned her former weakness, Meg waved her hand proudly, and called aloud to the men below.

"Why stand ye there like lubbers in a storm!-Up with the coffin, and lodge it in the house,-I say, hoist the coffin!-Sure they that pay may order?-Tis the Master's whim, and who's afraid?"

To shake off the imputation of fear what would not a seaman dare!-The appeal was beyond its cause, and their aversion to the

undertaker's office was so far conquered, that the coffin was hoisted, and soon stowed off; and then Mat, as he followed his wife into the house, having previously given the crew some necessary directions, closed the door, and shot the bolt home with a slam that implied he meant to be alone.

"Oh, Sir! for Heaven's sake!" said the soft, and now pleading voice of Carema, "let us not venture with those tipsy ruffians, it were better to retrace the lane, yes, were the darkness and the distance twice as great. Oh, Sir! pray let them row off without even knowing that they were observed, I would encounter any danger to avoid them,-Oh, no, indeed you must not call !"

"Prithee, Darling, be still, and let me have the advice of mine own judgment.The matter is one, thou shalt understand hereafter. I assure thee, all shall be well :— all for the best."

And so saying, Ephraim descended with rapid strides a small tongue of land that projected towards the river, held his hands hollow to his mouth, and shouted through them,

"Boat, ahoy!"

The cry awoke the distant echoes, and was immediately responded by the deep “Halloa” of the boatmen, as they put about to attend his bidding.

Nay, Carema, why dost thou tremble? -I say, all shall be well. Though the men are tipsy, as thou sayest, yet, Child, the strong drink will not mar their capacity for labour.-All shall be well! Nay, were they to prove obstreperous, verily, as I have been a sailor, and a master of sailors, so would I make the varlets to lie as ballast in the bottom of their own boat, and I myself would take the tiller, and guide the shallop as far as our habitation, which, as thou knowest, is adjacent :-Nay,-nay,-it is my

pleasure to be afloat, and, I say unto thee, all shall be well!"

Never, perhaps, was a pretty foot more unwillingly pressed on the gunnel of a boat, -but Ephraim, though kind, was positive; and Carema felt as if there was a destiny in the matter that implied obedience. Indeed, the whole adventure already hung strangely on her mind,-with a sort of ominous interest, as something personal,—as something, that hereafter she might feel but too anxious to forget.

CHAPTER II.

Tis a rich man's pride! there having ever been

More than a feud, a strange antipathy,

Between us and true gentry."

MASSINGER.

"DID

you order any thing, Sir?" said one of the waiters at the Bush Tavern to a young gentleman just arrived by the Oxford coach. The question was put with an officious promptitude, which implied a hint as to the 'impropriety' of not having done so, -but, if so, it was unheeded, and the gentleman remained with his eyes poring on the