shown to the disconsolate
widow the most refined delicacy could, dictate, and every comfort and
respect were procured for her which the princely fortune, high rank, and
higher character of the Earl of Pendennyss, could, command. It was this
nobleman, who, on his way from head-quarters with despatches for England,
had been the means of preserving Julia from a fate worse than death. A
packet was in waiting for the earl, and they proceeded in her for home.
The Donna Lorenza was the widow of a subaltern Spanish officer, who had
fallen under the orders and near Pendennyss, and the interest he took in
her brave husband had induced him to offer her, in the destruction of her
little fortune by the enemy, his protection: for near two years he had
maintained her at Lisbon and now, judging her a proper person, had
persuaded her to accompany Mrs. Fitzgerald to England.

On the passage, which was very tedious, the earl became more intimately
acquainted with the history and character of his young friend, and by a
course of gentle yet powerful expedients had drawn her mind gradually from
its gloomy contemplation of futurity, to a juster sense of good and evil
The peculiarity of her religious persuasion afforded an introduction to
frequent discussions of the real opinions of that church, to which Julia
had hitherto belonged, although ignorant of all its essential and vital
truths. These conversations, which were renewed repeatedly in their
intercourse while under the protection of his sister in London, laid the
foundations of a faith which left her nothing to hope for but the happy
termination of her earthly probation.

The mother of Fitzgerald was dead, and as he had no near relative left,
Julia found herself alone in the world. Her husband had taken the
precaution to make a will in season it was properly authenticated, and his
widow, by the powerful assistance of Pendennyss, was put in quiet
possession of a little independency. It was while waiting the decision of
this affair that Mrs. Fitzgerald resided for a short time near Bath. As
soon as it was terminated, the earl and his sister had seen her settled in
her present abode, and once since had they visited her; but delicacy had
kept him away from the cottage, although his attempts to serve her had
been constant, though not always successful. He had, on his return to
Spain, seen her father, and interceded with him on her behalf, but in
vain. The anger of the Spaniard remained unapp