said I, anxiously.

"'Not a bit of it. Say your prayers, Betsy, and trust in Providence.
Your lover is as safe in his good ship to-night, as in his bed at home.'

"He pulled me on to his knee, and kissed me, and I went up to bed with a
lighter heart.

"A few minutes later I was fast asleep. I don't know how long this sleep
lasted, but I awoke with hearing David Arthur calling beneath my window.
His mother's window and mine both fronted the cliff, and were in a line
with each other. 'Thank God! David is safe!' I cried, as I sprang
joyfully from my bed, and threw open the casement.

"There he was sure enough, standing in the moonlight, directly beneath
the window. His norwester flung far back on his head, his yellow curls
hanging in wet masses on his shoulders, and his clothes dripping with
the salt spray. The moon shone forth on his upturned face. He looked
very pale and cold, and his eyes were fixed intently upon his mother's
chamber-window. Before I could speak, he cried out in his rich, manly
tones--

"'Mother, dearest mother, I am come home to you. Open the door, and let
me in!'

"'Stay, Davy, darling--stay one moment, and I will let you in. Your
mother's asleep; but I can open the back-door with my key. Oh! I'm so
happy, so thankful, that you are safe.'

"I threw my clothes on as fast as I could, but my hands trembled so from
excitement, that I could scarcely fasten a string. A cold chill was
creeping through my whole frame, and, in spite of the joy I felt, I
involuntarily burst into tears. Dashing away the unwelcome drops with
the back of my hand, I bounded down the stairs, unlocked the back-door
that led into the alley, and in another moment stood alone on the cliff.

"'David, where are you?' I cried. But no David was there. I glanced all
round the wide, open space: not an object was moving over its surface. A
deep stillness reigned all around, only interrupted by the solemn
thunder of the waters, whose hollow surging against the shore rendered
the solitude of the midnight hour more profound.

"Again I felt those cold chills steal through me--again the unbidden
tears streamed down my cheeks.

"'What can have become of him?' said I, quite bewildered with surprise
and fear; 'he must have got in at the back window!--I will go to his
mother--I shall find him with her!'

"The key I held in my hand fitted both locks: I went into Mrs. Arthur's,
lighted the candle that I had left on her kitchen dresser, and