onfirmed my
idea that it must be inhabited by a European, from whom they had
perhaps taken his only means of leaving it.

"Restless about this fancy, I tried to persuade them to return and
discover if the island was inhabited. I could not prevail on them to
restore the canoe; but, seeing me much agitated, they resolved secretly
to procure me a great pleasure as they thought, by returning to the
island and bringing away any one they could meet with, whether he would
or not. Parabery, always the leader in perilous enterprises, and who was
so attached to me, would not be left out in one which was to produce me
such pleasure. They set out, and you know the result of their
expedition. I leave it to your wife to tell you how she was brought
away, and pass on to the time of their arrival. My people brought them
to me in triumph, and were vexed that they had only found one woman and
a child, whom I might give to the white lady. This I did promptly. Your
wife was ill and distressed, and I carried her immediately to the
grotto. There she found a companion who welcomed her with joy; Francis
replaced her own lost Alfred, and the two good mothers were soon
intimate friends. But, notwithstanding this solace, your Elizabeth was
inconsolable at the separation from her husband and children, and
terrified at the danger to which you would expose yourself in searching
for her. We were even afraid she would lose her reason, when the king
came to take away Francis. He had seen him on his arrival, and was much
taken with his appearance; he came again to see him, and resolved to
adopt him as his son. You know what passed on this subject; and now you
are once more united to all those who are dear to you.

"Bless God, brother, who knows how to produce good from what we think
evil, and acknowledge the wisdom of his ways. You must return all
together to your island; I am too much interested in the happiness of
Emily to wish to detain her; and if God permits me, when my missions are
completed, I will come to end my days with you, and to bless your
rising colony."

I suppress all our reflections on this interesting history, and our
gratitude for the termination of our trials, and hasten to the recital,
which, at my particular entreaty, my wife proceeded to give us.

* * * * *

CHAPTER LVII.

"My story," she began, "will not be long. I might make it in two
words,--_you have lost me, and you have found me_.