be wrong if
I did not confess that my sorrow was very much soothed, and what is
more, that in some respects I felt happier than I had done for a very
long time. Tea was made, and I began to talk to them about my
adventures and my shipwrecks.

"The most dreadful," said I, "was the first, when I and all my
companions nearly lost our lives aboard the _Kite_."

"The _Kite_!" exclaimed the young lady, "the _Kite_! What do you know
about her? Oh, in mercy tell me, young man!"

I saw she was very much agitated, but as I could not tell what part of
the narrative to pass over or to touch on slightly, I told her all about
the vessel from the time we left Plymouth till we got aboard the French
brig; especially I could not help speaking of Seton and his bravery, and
how he was wounded, and how he entreated me to bear his dying messages
to his family, and to the girl to whom he was to be married. She seemed
almost breathless as I proceeded with my story, but every now and then
she would say, "Go on--in mercy go on." So I continued with my story to
the end; "and," said I, "the first time I have freedom on shore, I will,
please heaven, go and fulfil my promise to poor Seton. I remember the
young lady's name--Margaret Troall."

"You have fulfilled it already," said the young lady, with a faltering
voice, and bursting into tears; "I am Margaret Troall. And oh, believe
me, I am most grateful to you."

I was astonished, I found that the rest of her family in England were
dead, and that she and her aunt had come to live at Plymouth just as my
aunt and her husband had left the place, and they had taken my
grandmother's house, which was then vacant. At first, after all this,
the young lady was very sad, but by degrees she recovered her spirits,
and we talked on very pleasantly till Miss Rundle came in.

She wasn't half as stiff as at first, when she saw how well I was
received by Mrs Sandon (that was the name of the old lady) and her
niece, and she promised to write to my aunt to tell her that I was alive
and well, and that she might expect to see me some day.

"When you see her, as I hope you will soon," said she, "remember to tell
her that I am looking well, and that you knew me at once."

"That I will, Miss Rundle," said I; "I'll tell her that you look as
young and handsome as you ever did, and for that matter younger to my
eyes,--and that's the truth."

So it was, for a boy always thinks an oldish woman older than she