ied_."

I was greatly shocked at this intelligence. It was some time before my
reason came to my aid, and showed me that this was an event, on the
whole, and on a disinterested and dispassionate view, not unfortunate.
The keeper knew not my relation to the deceased, and readily recounted
the behaviour of the prisoner and the circumstances of his last hours.

I shall not repeat the narrative. It is useless to keep alive the sad
remembrance. He was now beyond the reach of my charity or pity; and,
since reflection could answer no beneficial end to him, it was my duty
to divert my thoughts into different channels, and live henceforth for
my own happiness and that of those who were within the sphere of my
influence.

I was now alone in the world, so far as the total want of kindred
creates solitude. Not one of my blood, nor even of my name, was to be
found in this quarter of the world. Of my mother's kindred I knew
nothing. So far as friendship or service might be claimed from them, to
me they had no existence. I was destitute of all those benefits which
flow from kindred, in relation to protection, advice, or property. My
inheritance was nothing. Not a single relic or trinket in my possession
constituted a memorial of my family. The scenes of my childish and
juvenile days were dreary and desolate. The fields which I was wont to
traverse, the room in which I was born, retained no traces of the past.
They were the property and residence of strangers, who knew nothing of
the former tenants, and who, as I was now told, had hastened to
new-model and transform every thing within and without the habitation.

These images filled me with melancholy, which, however, disappeared in
proportion as I approached the abode of my beloved girl. Absence had
endeared the image of my _Bess_--I loved to call her so--to my soul. I
could not think of her without a melting softness at my heart, and tears
in which pain and pleasure were unaccountably mingled. As I approached
Curling's house, I strained my sight, in hopes of distinguishing her
form through the evening dusk.

I had told her of my purpose, by letter. She expected my approach at
this hour, and was stationed, with a heart throbbing with impatience, at
the roadside, near the gate. As soon as I alighted, she rushed into my
arms.

I found my sweet friend less blithesome and contented than I wished. Her
situation, in spite of the parental and sisterly regards which she
received from t