e.

We will leave the reader to imagine what passed between Francisco and
Edward after the discovery of their kindred, and proceed to state the
contents of the packet, which the twin-brothers now opened in the
presence of Clara alone.

We must, however, condense the matter, which was very voluminous. It
stated that Cain, whose real name was Charles Osborne, had sailed in a
fine schooner from Bilboa, for the coast of Africa, to procure a cargo
of slaves; and had been out about twenty-four hours when the crew
perceived a boat, apparently with no one in her, floating about a mile
ahead of them. The water was then smooth, and the vessel had but little
way. As soon as they came up with the boat, they lowered down their
skiff to examine her.

The men sent in the skiff soon returned, towing the boat alongside.
Lying at the bottom of the boat were found several men almost dead, and
reduced to skeletons, and in the stern-sheets a negro woman, with a
child at her breast, and a white female in the last state of exhaustion.

Osborne was then a gay and unprincipled man, but not a hardened villain
and murderer, as he afterwards became; he had compassion and feeling.
They were all taken on board the schooner: some recovered, others were
too much exhausted. Among those restored was Cecilia Templemore and the
infant, who at first had been considered quite dead; but the negro
woman, exhausted by the demands of her nursling and her privations,
expired as she was being removed from the boat. A goat, that fortunately
was on board, proved a substitute for the negress; and before Osborne
had arrived off the coast, the child had recovered its health and
vigour, and the mother her extreme beauty.

We must now pass over a considerable portion of the narrative. Osborne
was impetuous in his passions, and Cecilia Templemore became his victim.
He had, indeed, afterwards quieted her qualms of conscience by a
pretended marriage, when he arrived at the Brazils with his cargo of
human flesh. But that was little alleviation of her sufferings; she who
had been indulged in every luxury, who had been educated with the
greatest care, was now lost for ever, an outcast from the society to
which she could never hope to return, and associating with those she
both dreaded and despised. She passed her days and her nights in tears;
and had soon more cause for sorrow from the brutal treatment she
received from Osborne, who had been her destroyer. Her child was