oners was sent to the
frontiers; in this they were included, and had proceeded to the
neighborhood of the Pyrenees, when, in their turn, the French were
assailed suddenly, and entirely routed; and the captive Spaniards, of
which the party, with the exception of our young couple, consisted,
released. As the French guard made a resistance until overpowered by
numbers, an unfortunate ball struck Major Fitzgerald to the earth--he
survived but an hour, and died where he fell, on the open field. An
English officer, the last of his retiring countrymen, was attracted by the
sight of a woman weeping over the body of a fallen man, and approached
them. In a few words Fitzgerald explained his situation to this gentleman,
and exacted a pledge from him to guard his Julia, in safety, to his mother
in England.

The stranger promised everything the dying husband required, and by the
time death had closed the eyes of Fitzgerald, he had procured from some
peasants a rude conveyance, into which the body, with its almost equally
lifeless widow, were placed. The party which intercepted the convoy of
prisoners, had been out from the British camp on other duty, but its
commander hearing of the escort, had pushed rapidly into a country covered
by the enemy to effect their rescue; and his service done, he was
compelled to make a hasty retreat to ensure his own security. To this was
owing the indifference, which left the major to the care of the Spanish
peasantry who had gathered to the spot, and the retreating troops had got
several miles on their return, before the widow and her protector
commenced their journey. It was impossible to overtake them, and the
inhabitants acquainting the gentleman that a body of French dragoons were
already harassing their rear, he was compelled to seek another route to
the camp. This, with some trouble and no little danger, he at last
effected; and the day following the skirmish, Julia found herself lodged
in a retired Spanish dwelling, several miles within the advanced posts of
the British army. The body of her husband was respectfully interred, and
Julia was left to mourn her irretrievable loss, uninterrupted by anything
but by the hasty visits of the officer in whose care she had been
left--visits which he stole from his more important duties as a soldier.

A month glided by in this melancholy manner, leaving to Mrs. Fitzgerald
the only consolation she would receive--her incessant visits to the grave
of her hu