immediately to New London: from my cousin there he was
informed of your interview with him; but from whence you then came, or
where you went, he knew not; and after making the strictest enquiry, he
could hear nothing more of you. By a vessel in that port, bound directly
for Holland, he wrote an account of the whole affair to Edgar,
mentioning his unsuccessful search to find you; and returned to
Charleston.

"Alfred learnt from my friends the circumstances which occasioned my
sudden removal from the old mansion. The morning you left me you was
discovered by my aunt, who was passing the road in a chair with a
gentleman, whom she had then but recently become acquainted with. My
aunt knew you. They immediately drove to John's hut. On finding that
John had left the keys with me, she sent him for them; and on my
refusing to give them up, she came herself, as I have before related;
and as she succeeded no better than John, she returned and dispatched a
message to my father, informing him of the circumstances, and her
suspicions of your having been to the mansion, and that, from my having
possession of the keys and refusing to yield them up, there was little
doubt but that we had formed a plan for my escape.

"Alarmed at this information, my father immediately ordered his
carriage, drove to the mansion, and removed me, as I have before
informed you.

"I ought to have told you, that the maid and man servant who attended me
to Charleston, not liking the country, and growing sickly, were sent
back by my uncle, after they had been there about two months."

Alonzo found by this narrative that John had deceived him, when he made
his enquiries of him concerning his knowledge of Melissa's removal. But
this was not surprising: John was tenant to Melissa's aunt, and
subservient to all her views;--she had undoubtedly given him
instructions how to act.

"But who was the strange gentleman with your aunt?" enquired Alonzo.
"This I will also tell you, answered Melissa, tho' it unfolds a tale
which reflects no great honour to my family.

"Hamblin was the name which this man assumed: he said he had been an
eminent merchant in New York, and had left it about the time it was
taken by the British. He lodged at an inn where my aunt frequently
stopped when she was out collecting her rents, where he first introduced
himself to her acquaintance, and ingratiated himself into her favour by
art and insidiousness. He accompanied her on her visits