, for this
purpose, I have done enough; and must now bid you farewell."

"Nay, don't go yet. I have something more to say to you. My friend, I'm
sure, will be here presently. There he is;" (noticing a peal upon the
bell.) "Polly, go down, and see if that's Mr. Somers. If it is, bring
him up." The daughter went.

I walked to the window absorbed in my own reflections. I was
disappointed and dejected. The scene before me was the unpleasing
reverse of all that my fancy, while coming hither, had foreboded. I
expected to find virtuous indigence and sorrow lifted, by my means, to
affluence and exultation. I expected to witness the tears of gratitude
and the caresses of affection. What had I found? Nothing but sordidness,
stupidity, and illiberal suspicion.

The daughter stayed much longer than the mother's patience could endure.
She knocked against the floor with her heel. A servant came up. "Where's
Polly, you slut? It was not you, hussy, that I wanted. It was her."

"She is talking in the parlour with a gentleman."

"Mr. Somers, I suppose; hey, fool? Run with my compliments to him,
wench. Tell him, please walk up."

"It is not Mr. Somers, ma'am."

"No? Who then, saucebox? What gentleman can have any thing to do with
Polly?"

"I don't know, ma'am."

"Who said you did, impertinence? Run, and tell her I want her this
instant."

The summons was not delivered, or Polly did not think proper to obey it.
Full ten minutes of thoughtful silence on my part, and of muttered
vexation and impatience on that of the old lady, elapsed before Polly's
entrance. As soon as she appeared, the mother began to complain bitterly
of her inattention and neglect; but Polly, taking no notice of her,
addressed herself to me, and told me that a gentleman below wished to
see me. I hastened down, and found a stranger, of a plain appearance, in
the parlour. His aspect was liberal and ingenuous; and I quickly
collected, from his discourse, that this was the brother-in-law of
Watson, and the companion of his last voyage.

CHAPTER XLII.

My eyes sparkled with pleasure at this unexpected interview, and I
willingly confessed my desire to communicate all the knowledge of his
brother's destiny which I possessed. He told me, that, returning late to
Baltimore, on the last evening, he found his sister in much agitation
and distress, which, after a time, she explained to him. She likewise
put the packets I had left into his hands.

"I leave yo