ese true Christian friends; and all the spiritual
strength that the prayers end exhortations of such a minister as Elliot
could impart to a sorrowing spirit, were received, and gratefully
appreciated, by the object of his solicitude and care. But when weeks
and months had elapsed, and still no tidings came of the beloved
wanderer, what hope could be given to the desolate heart of Edith Her
friends had themselves given up all hope of Roger's having survived the
toils end privations of the journey; and how could they bid his wife
cheer up, and look for brighter days, which they believed would never
come? A letter which Edith received from her parents, by the captain of
a fishing-boat from Plymouth, too clearly proved that Williams had
never reached that settlement; and from that day the health and spirits
of his wife visibly declined. She did not give way to violent grief;
but a settled melancholy dwelt on her pale and lovely countenance, and
all the thoughtful abstraction of her early year, which happiness had
chased from her features, returned again. No object but her infant
seemed to rouse her; and then it was only to tears: but tears were
better than that look of deep and speechless sorrow that generally met
the anxious gaze of her friends, and made them, at times, apprehensive
for her reason. At length her physical powers gave way, and a violent
attack of fever brought Edith to the brink of the grave.

During this period both Elliot and his wife devoted themselves, day and
night, to the poor sufferer, whose mind wandered continually, and whose
deeply-touching lamentations for the beloved one, whom she mourned as
dead, brought tears to the eyes of her faithful friends. They had no
hope of her recovery, nor could they heartily desire it; for they
believed her earthly happiness was wrecked for ever, and they could ask
no better fate for her than a speedy reunion with her Roger in a home
beyond the grave.

Her child they looked on as their own, and cherished her with almost a
parent's love and care; while they resolved to bring her up in those
high and holy principles that had been so nobly contended for by her
unfortunate father, and so beautifully exemplified in the amiable
character of her mother.

The fever ran high, and bore down all the strength--both moral and
physical--of its victim. At length, after days and nights of
restlessness and delirium, a deep and heavy sleep came on; and Edith
lay still and moti