ape, and I will splice them up as well as need be.' Without
waiting for a reply, away hastened the kind sailor in search of his old
shoes; these he soon after brought to us with a triumphant air, and they
were received by Hortense with demonstrations of the most lively joy. We
set to work with all zeal, and before the day closed my daughter could
resume her delightful duties of supplying their evening's diversion
to the crew. I again repeat, never was present received with greater
thankfulness. It has since often been matter of self-reproach that I did
not particularly inquire into the name and history of our benefactor. It
would have been gratifying for me to have done something for him when
afterward means were in my power."

Poor Hortense! most wonderful were the vicissitudes of her checkered
and joyless life. We here meet her, almost an infant, in poverty and
obscurity. The mother and child arrive in Paris on the morning of that
Reign of Terror, the story of which has made the ear of humanity to
tingle. Hortense is deprived of both her parents, and is left in
friendlessness and beggary in the streets of Paris. A charitable
neighbor cherished and fed her. Her mother is liberated, and married to
Napoleon; and Hortense, as daughter of the emperor, is surrounded with
dazzling splendor, such as earth has seldom witnessed. We now meet
Hortense, radiant in youthful beauty, one of the most admired and
courted in the midst of the glittering throng, which, like a fairy
vision, dazzles all eyes in the gorgeous apartments of Versailles and
St. Cloud. Her person is adorned with the most costly fabrics and the
most brilliant gems which Europe can afford. The nobles and princes of
the proudest courts vie with each other for the honor of her hand. She
is led to her sumptuous bridals by Louis Bonaparte, brother of the
emperor; becomes the spouse of a king, and takes her seat upon the
throne of Holland. But in the midst of all this external splendor she
is wretched at heart. Not one congenial feeling unites her with
the companion to whom she is bound. Louis, weary of regal pomp and
constraint, abdicates the throne, and Hortense becomes unendurably weary
of her pensive and unambitious spouse. They agree to separate; each to
journey along, unattended by the other, the remainder of life's
pilgrimage. Hortense seeks a joyless refuge in a secluded castle, in
one of the most retired valleys of Switzerland. The tornado of
counter-revolution