back,
woman; d'ye think Fingal and Oscar would caress the foul fiend in that
manner? Na--na--na. Ha! ha! ha!" And he fell upon his son's shoulders,
weeping and crying convulsively.

"My father--my dear, dear father."

"My son--my lost, my only, my restored son," was the response.

But Helen, in an instant, brought the whole party, consisting of father,
mother, sister, and son, to her aid: a light was procured and held over
her face; her bosom was bared, and rubbed; her forehead had water
plentifully poured upon it from the stream; and, at last, symptoms of
returning life appeared. Oscar and Fingal, in the meantime, had licked
Helen's face, and neck, and shoulders, all over; and whether from any
virtue in the peculiar touch of their tongues, or from the natural
expiry of the trance, Helen breathed heavily--her bosom heaved; William
looked on her cheeks, and they were flushed with red. In a moment he had
her in his arms. Helen, for some time, suffered exquisite bodily
torture; but was at last capable of having the truth made gradually
known to her. She said surely she had been dreaming, as she had often
done, and that she was still surely asleep, and that she would waken at
last, as she had done before, to a dreadful perception of the reality.
William M'Pherson still continued to clasp and assure Helen of his
personal identity. But, even when convinced of the reality of William's
presence, Helen did not evince that degree of happiness which might have
been expected; she sat stupified and passive, and seemingly insensible
to everything around her; her mind was evidently wandering to a
disagreeable subject. However, she was prevailed upon to return with the
family into the house, and, worn out and fatigued, she was soon after
put to rest in an adjoining apartment.

In the meantime, the young sailor was questioned minutely respecting the
reason of his reappearance, after he had been so long reported, and
believed by everybody, to be dead.

Without repeating his answer in his own words, which were interlarded
with sea phrases, we may state, in general, that it was to the following
purpose:--He had gone to Dundee, with the view of making some small
purchases for the household, when he accidentally fell in with a
recruiting party, who were beating up for marines for the fleet, then
just returned from the capture of the Danish fleet at Copenhagen.
Inexperienced as he was, he was enticed into a public-house on the
shore, an