from his forehead, and read as follows:--

"_My dear, dear, ever dear, Mr Vanslyperken_:--

"Pity me pity me, O pity me! Alas! how soon is the cup of bliss
dashed from the lips of us poor mortals. I can hardly write, hardly
hold my pen, or hold my head up. I cannot bear that, from my hand,
you should be informed of the utter blight of all our hopes which
blossomed so fully. Alas! alas! but it must be. O my head, my poor,
poor head--how it swims! I was sitting at the fireside, thinking when
you would return, and trying to find out if the wind was fair, when I
heard a knock at the door. It was so like yours, that my heart beat,
and I ran to the window, but I could not see who it was, so I sat down
again. Imagine my surprise, my horror, my vexation, my distress, my
agony, when who should come in but my supposed dead husband! I
thought I should have died when I saw him. I dropped as it was, down
into a swoon, and when I came to my senses, there he was hanging over
me; thinking, poor fool, that I had swooned for joy, and kissing me--
pah! yes, kissing me. O dear! O dear! My dear Mr Vanslyperken, I
thought of you, and what your feelings would be, when you know all
this; but there he was alive, and in good health, and now I have
nothing more to do but to lie down and die.

"It appears that in my ravings I called upon you over and over again,
and discovered the real state of my poor bleeding heart, and he was
very angry: he packed up everything, and he insisted upon my leaving
Portsmouth. Alas! I shall be buried in the north, and never see you
again. But why should I, my dear Mr Vanslyperken? what good will
come of it? I am a virtuous woman, and will be so: but, O dear! I
can write no more.

"Farewell, then, farewell! Farewell for ever! Dear Mr Vanslyperken,
think no more of your disconsolate, unhappy, heart-broken,
miserable:--

"ANN MALCOLM.

"PS. For my sake you will adhere to the good cause; I know you will,
my dearest."

Mr Vanslyperken perused this heart-rending epistle, and fell back on
his chair almost suffocated. The woman, who had stood in the passage
while he read the letter, came to his assistance, and pouring some water
into his mouth, and throwing a portion of it over his face, partially
revived him. Vanslyperken's head fell on the table upon his hands, and
for some minutes remained in that position. He then rose, folde