e abject
misery of the workhouse. Under these circumstances, it is not
extraordinary that we should learn to regard each other with the
liveliest feelings of affection, and while we were still children,--
endured all the transports and torments which make up the existence of
more experienced lovers."

"I do not like interrupting you," I here observed, "but I certainly
should like to know what is meant by the word lovers?"

"I can scarcely explain it to you satisfactorily at present," said Mrs
Reichardt, with a smile; "but I have no doubt, before many years have
passed over your head--always provided that you escape from this
island--you will understand it without requiring any explanation. But I
must now leave my story, as many things of much consequence to our
future welfare now demand my careful attention."

I could not then ascertain from her what was meant by the word whose
meaning I had asked. It had very much excited my curiosity; but she
left me to attend to her domestic duties, of which she was extremely
regardful, and I had no opportunity at that time of eliciting from her
the explanation I desired.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

It is impossible for me to overrate the value of Mrs Reichardt's
assistance. Indeed had it not been for her, circumstanced as I was at
this particular period, I should in all probability have perished. Her
exhortations saved me from despair, when our position seemed to have
grown quite desperate. But example did more, even, than precept. Her
ingenuity in devising expedients; her activity in putting them in force;
her unfailing cheerfulness under disappointment, and Christian
resignation under privation, produced the best results. I was enabled
to bear up against the ill effects of our crippled resources, consequent
upon the ill conduct of the sailors of the whaler, and the failure of
our fish-pond.

She manufactured strong lines for deep-sea fishing, and having
discovered a shelf of rock, little more than two feet above the sea, to
which with a good deal of difficulty I could descend, I took my stand
one day on the rock with my lines baited with a piece of one of my
feathered favourites, whom dire necessity had at last forced me to
destroy. I waited with all the patience of a veteran angler. I knew
the water to be very deep, and it lay in a sheltered nook or corner of
the rocks about ten feet across; I allowed the line to drop some three
or four yards, and not having any f