"Sir
Henry was deserving of the tear you have shed!--Peace to his
spirit!--Nor need we doubt it: the God to whom he is gone, will condemn
or acquit us according to the rectitude of our hearts, not the frailties
of our words or actions."

"That reflection may conduce more toward restoring peace to my bosom,"
said the Captain, "than all the sophisms of philosophy!

"But come, Frederick, you have witnessed my weakness, let me retire from
this spot, or I may relapse."

He took the proffered arm of Frederick, and, giving a last look at the
grave, dejectedly retraced his steps from the church-yard.

A few days after, he received his expected orders to sail for Weymouth,
previously to his convoying a fleet of Indiamen to the coast of China.

A sigh swelled his bosom as he passed the cliffs of Brighthelmstone, and
beheld the spot where he had once resided with his Ellenor, now lost to
him, he feared, for ever. Remembrance, with keener powers, recalled her
perfections; the sweetness of her manners, her chaste affection; each
look, each tender endearment, dwelt on his memory, and was cherished in
his heart as all that remained to him of her whom he loved. The idea of
Mrs. Howard involuntarily obtruded--

"Weak man!" he softly sighed, "ever to listen to the futile reasonings
of resentment! Had I not yielded to thee, Ellenor might honourably have
been mine; her arms my haven, her smiles the reward of my toils and
anxieties! But now--no welcome ever greets my arrival to my native
shore, no offspring bless my return; Ellenor and her son are lost to me;
and he who only could have restored them, has resigned his being to the
God who gave it!"

Frederick, with concern, observed the increasing melancholy of his
uncle, and his anxiety on that account was considerably augmented by
the arrival of Mrs. Howard! That lady, whose hatred to the Captain
increased with her years, no sooner gained intelligence of his being at
Weymouth, than she hastened there, well knowing her presence was a far
greater punishment to him than any the law could have inflicted; and as
such, it proved more gratifying to her revenge than any it could afford!
The Captain bore her wayward humour with apparent composure; yet it
preyed on his heart, and, by forcing a comparison with the happy period
he had passed with Ellenor, rendered each moment as secretly unhappy as
the rancour of his wife could wish.

From this disagreeable situation he was relieved by a vis