and I, remained at a small wayside tavern. It was a wretched
place, but they gave me a small room where I could be alone, and try to
rest. The one adjoining it was Bailey's, and late in the evening I heard
him and Christian go into it together. The partition was so thin that
their voices reached me quite distinctly, and I soon found that they
were disputing about something. From the day when, on board ship, Bailey
had told me how they had entrapped me simply for the money to which I
was entitled, there had never been any allusion made, in my presence, to
the profit they expected to make of me. I could hear now, however, as
their voices grew louder, that this was the cause of their dispute. I
caught only broken sentences, and never knew how the quarrel ended, for
in the morning Bailey was gone, and I had learned already that it was
useless to question Christian. I had written from Quebec to my father.
The only answer I received was through his solicitor, who formally made
over to me all my mother's fortune; but, of course, this did not happen
until some weeks after our arrival at Moose Island.

"We remained three or four days at the tavern, and then removed to the
island, where a small log-house had been got ready for me. It was clean
and neat, though not better than the cottages of many farm-labourers in
England, and I was so humbled that I never thought of complaining. It
stood on a small marshy promontory at one end of the island, at a
considerable distance from the village, and was more accessible by land
than by water.

"In that house, Lucia, you were born; but not until three years of
solitude, terror, and misery had almost broken my heart.

"As soon as ever we were settled in our home, which I tried to make
comfortable and inviting according to my English ideas, Christian
returned to the wandering and dissipated life he had led in the last few
years before his journey to England. He was often away from me for many
days without my knowing where he was, and I only heard from others,
vague stories of his spending nights and days, drinking and gambling, on
the American side of the river. At first, he always came back sober, and
in good humour, and never left me without sufficient money for the few
expenses which were necessary; but within six months this changed, and I
began to suffer, not only from ill-usage, but from want.

"The missionaries, of whom I told you, were still on the island when I
arrived there; but