t he had given me up for dead. How had he
sustained the shock? I saw him heavily mounting the stairs upon Scipicks
arm when first the news was brought to him. Next Grafton would come
hurrying in from Kent to Marlboro Street, disavowing all knowledge of the
messenger from New York, and intent only upon comforting his father. And
when I pictured my uncle soothing him to his face, and grinning behind
his bed-curtains, my anger would scald me, and the realization of my
helplessness bring tears of very bitterness.

What would I not have given then for one word with that honest and
faithful friend of our family, Captain Daniel! I knew that he suspected
Grafton: he had told me as much that night at the Coffee House. Perhaps
the greatest of my fears was that my uncle would deny him access to Mr.
Carvel when he returned from the North.

In the evening, when the sun settled red upon the horizon, I would think
of Patty and my friends in Gloucester Street. For I knew they missed me
sadly of a Sunday at the supper-table. But it has ever been my nature to
turn forward instead of back, and to accept the twists and flings of
fortune with hope rather than with discouragement. And so, as we left
league after, league of the blue ocean behind us, I would set my face to
the forecastle. For Dorothy was in England.

On a dazzling morning in March, with the brigantine running like a beagle
in full cry before a heaping sea that swayed her body,--so I beheld for
the first time the misty green of the high shores of Ireland. Ah! of
what heroes' deeds was I capable as I watched the lines come out in bold
relief from a wonderland of cloud! With what eternal life I seemed to
tingle! 'Twas as though I, Richard Carvel, had discovered all this
colour; and when a tiny white speck of a cottage came out on the edge of
the cliff, I thought irresistibly of the joy to live there the year round
with Dorothy, with the wind whistling about our gables, and the sea
thundering on the rocks far below. Youth is in truth a mystery.

How long I was gazing at the shifting coast I know not, for a strange
wildness was within me that made me forget all else, until suddenly I
became conscious of a presence at my side, and turned to behold the
captain.

"'Tis a braw sight, Richard," said he, "but no sae bonnie as auld
Scotland. An' the wind hands, we shall see her shores the morn."

His voice broke, and I looked again to see two great tears rolling upon
his cheeks.