CHAPTER XVII.

"Do you look on life as thus without sequency and without aim? Trust me, it is the condition of minds which makes it the chaos which it is. It is the state of the spiritual which causes the moral conflict witnessed everywhere around us. But this chaos must remainthis conflict must continue, until we see in life one infinite thought, purpose, spirit,-that of reconciling the selfish, narrow, partial, separate.-That of making all spirits one, by love."

Old Sermon.

HARDY on the following morning went on board a ship which he knew was about to sail for Jamaica, and the captain of which was an acquaintance of his. After a few preliminaries he drew from his pocket his letter for Mr. Fanshawe.

"Fanshawe? Lord bless you!" said the seaman, "he has been dead and buried this many a day."

This very natural contingency had never occurred to Hardy. He heard it more with vexation than grief it must be owned, and began recasting his schemes for communicating with Eugenia. But the captain

went on.

"Ay, ay, I knew Fanshawe well!-a pleasant man to have any business with— went all to the bad at last," and much of the same sort, ending with, "Did Fanshawe owe you any money, Mr. Hardy ?"

"Why no, no," Benjamin replied; then, after a pause, "Did you happen ever to hear anything of a daughter of Mr. Fanshawe who was married to an English officer ? "

"Surely, surely I did. I was in Kingston at the time of Mr. Fanshawe's death and heard her whole story. There never was a more pitiful case than hers. I would gladly

have subscribed five pounds myself to see her righted. A subscription was set on foot for her support on her father's death, but she was as proud as he and would not accept it, and disappeared."

"How? Disappeared?"

Ay, indeed!-disappeared !-no

knows how or where."

"Not suicide?" Hardy asked in a husky voice, his features indicating strong emotion. "God knows! God knows! She had hard trials, poor young thing! But you know her story yourself, Mr. Hardy?" said the captain, looking sharply at him.

"Not exactly," replied the other, recovering his self-command. "I knew Mr. Fanshawe and his daughter when I was in Jamaica, and I am shocked at what you tell me. I did not know all her story—what was it?"

"You see, she had been married to a scamp of an officer, who soon deserted her,

returned to England, and caused an account of his death to be sent her. But, not long after, it was discovered to be false. Far from being dead, he had by the death of his brother fallen heir to a large estate, and was Sir something or another.

"Fanshawe was too angry and too poor to set about, in the right way, having justice done his daughter; and, besides, was of a disposition to think more of revenge for the affront to himself, than of justice to her. So, waiting till he should be able to cross the Atlantic, with a horsewhip in his hand, and thrash his fine son-in-law, he thought it least discreditable to let the girl pass, with those who were not very intimate with him, for a widow, and say as little as possible about the discovery he had made. But matters went worse and worse with him; he was sold out of house and home at last, and in his poverty was supported by the earnings of his daughter, and an old negro woman,

for he never settled to any kind of business again. He is dead, however; and the faithful slave is dead; and his daughter is-God knows where ! "

"A sad tale, indeed!" Hardy rejoined. "But, do you know, it was about the husband of Mr. Fanshawe's daughter that I had written this letter! He died not long ago in India, but, before expiring, declared to a friend of mine that he left a son by Eugenia Fanshawe, who should be his heir!"

"Ay!—the devil! What a business it is, that nothing is known about her! And yet, if he said that he left a son, he must have known that he was living."

"And

"True true!-and Eugenia," Hardy exclaimed, joyfully, then stopped. Mrs. Downes-she was called Mrs. Downes, I remember must have been living not very long ago in Jamaica; perhaps, in her distress, she applied to her husband. It must have been so." He tried to say