p passed away long before midnight, nor
could he again recover that state of oblivion. Added to the uncertain and
uncomfortable state of his mind, his body felt feverish and oppressed.
This was chiefly owing to the close and confined air of the small
apartment in which they slept. After enduring for some time the broiling
and suffocating feeling attendant upon such an atmosphere, he rose to
endeavour to open the window of the apartment, and thus to procure a
change of air. Alas! the first trial reminded him that he was in jail,
and that the building being contrived for security, not comfort, the
means of procuring fresh air were not left at the disposal of the
wretched inhabitants.

Disappointed in this attempt, he stood by the unmanageable window for
some time. Little Wasp, though oppressed with the fatigue of his journey
on the preceding day, crept out of bed after his master, and stood by him
rubbing his shaggy coat against his legs, and expressing by a murmuring
sound the delight which he felt at being restored to him. Thus
accompanied, and waiting until the feverish feeling which at present
agitated his blood should subside into a desire for warmth and slumber,
Bertram remained for some time looking out upon the sea.

The tide was now nearly full, and dashed hoarse and near below the base
of the building. Now and then a large wave reached even the barrier or
bulwark which defended the foundation of the house, and was flung up on
it with greater force and noise than those which only broke upon the
sand. Far in the distance, under the indistinct light of a hazy and often
overclouded moon, the ocean rolled its multitudinous complication of
waves, crossing, bursting, and mingling with each other.

'A wild and dim spectacle,' said Bertram to himself, 'like those crossing
tides of fate which have tossed me about the world from my infancy
upwards. When will this uncertainty cease, and how soon shall I be
permitted to look out for a tranquil home, where I may cultivate in
quiet, and without dread and perplexity, those arts of peace from which
my cares have been hitherto so forcibly diverted? The ear of Fancy, it is
said, can discover the voice of sea-nymphs and tritons amid the bursting
murmurs of the ocean; would that I could do so, and that some siren or
Proteus would arise from these billows to unriddle for me the strange
maze of fate in which I am so deeply entangled! Happy friend!' he said,
looking at the bed where