ly
child, and it was no more than right to repair the wrongs of fortune in
this particular. The charming young thing declared that she would
"rather have Mark Woolston for her brother than any other boy in
Bristol; and that it was delightful to have the same person for a
brother as Anne!" Notwithstanding this flight in the romantic, Bridget
Yardley was as natural as it was possible for a female in a reasonably
civilized condition of society to be. There was a vast deal of
excellent, feminine self-devotion in her temperament, but not a particle
of the exaggerated, in either sentiment or fueling. True as steel in all
her impulses and opinions, in adopting Mark for a brother she merely
yielded to a strong natural sympathy, without understanding its tendency
or its origin. She would talk by the hour, with Anne, touching _their_
brother, and what they must make him do, and where he must go with them,
and in what they could oblige him most. The real sister was less active
than her friend, in mind and body, and she listened to all these schemes
and notions with a quiet submission that was not entirely free from
wonder.

The result of all this intercourse was to awaken a feeling between Mark
and Bridget, that was far more profound than might have been thought in
breasts so young, and which coloured their future lives. Mark first
became conscious of the strength of this feeling when he lost sight of
the Capes, and fancied the dear little. Bucks county girl he had left
behind him, talking with his sister of his own absence and risks. But
Mark had too much of the true spirit of a sailor in him, to pine, or
neglect his duty; and, long ere the ship had doubled the Cape of Good
Hope, he had become an active and handy lad aloft. When the ship reached
the China seas, he actually took his trick at the helm.

As was usual in that day, the voyage of the Rancocus lasted about a
twelvemonth. If John Chinaman were only one-half as active as Jonathan
Restless, it might be disposed of in about one-fourth less time; but
teas are not transported along the canals of the Celestial Empire with
anything like the rapidity with which wheat was sent to market over the
rough roads of the Great Republic, in the age of which we are writing.

When Mark Woolston re-appeared in Bristol, after the arrival of the
Rancocus below had been known there about twenty-four hours, he was the
envy of all the lads in the place, and the admiration of most of the
girls