e time of
the year, a boat was lowered from a distant vessel in the offing.
Three men pulled ashore as the broad full moon rose up, red and dim,
from the mist that hung upon the sea. The roll of the ocean alone
betokened its approach. Its melancholy murmur alone broke the
universal stillness. The lights came out one by one from the village
casements. The cattle were housed, and the curs had crept to the
hearth, save some of the younger sort, who at intervals worried
themselves, fidgeting about, and making a mighty show of activity and
watchfulness.

One of the passengers stepped hastily on shore. He spoke a few words
to the rowers, who threw their oars into the boat, fastening her to
the rocks. Afterwards they betook themselves to a tavern newly
trimmed, where, swinging from a rude pole, hung the "_sign_" of a
ship--for _sign_ it could only be called--painted long ago by some
self-initiated and village-immortalised artist, whose production had
once been the wonder of the whole neighbourhood.

A roaring blaze revealed the whole interior, where pewter cups and
well-scoured trenchers threw their bright glances upon all who wooed
these dangerous allurements at "The Ship."

But the individual whom the rowers had put ashore withstood these
tempting devices. He strode rapidly up the path, and paused not until
he approached the cliff where the agony of one short hour had left its
deep furrows for ever on his memory.

The incidents of that memorable day were then renewed with such
vividness that, on a sudden, writhing and dismayed, he hurried forward
in the vain hope, it might seem, of flying from the anguish he could
not control.

A dark plain stone house stood at no great distance, and hither his
footsteps were now directed. A little gate opened into a gravel walk
sweeping round an oval grass plat before the door. He leaned upon the
wicket, as though hesitating to enter. By this time the moon rode high
and clear above the mist which was yet slumbering on the ocean. She
came forth gloriously, without a shadow or a cloud. The wide
hemisphere was unveiled, but its bright orbs were softened by her
gaze. The shadows, broad and distinct, lay projected on a slight
hoar-frost, where a thousand splendours and a thousand crystals hung
in the cold and dewy beam. Bright, tranquil, and unruffled was the
world around him--but the world within was dark and turbulent--tossed,
agitated, and overwhelmed by the deep untold anguish of the