e. You'll
not mind being alone, I dare say?'

"And without waiting for a reply this careful and considerate attendant
hurriedly opened the door; went out; and then locked it briskly and
firmly on the outside. I was a prisoner, and my companion a dying woman!
For the moment I felt startled; but a hollow moan of anguish, sadly and
painfully reiterated in the chamber above, at once recalled me to my
duties, and bade me seek the sufferer. In a room of fair dimensions lay,
stricken and emaciated, the once active and dauntless Abigail. On
entering I could with difficulty disguise my surprise at the variety
of articles which it contained, and at the costliness and splendor of
many of them. The curtains of the sick woman's bed were of figured silk
damask; and though here and there a dark spot was visible where
sea-water, or some other destructive agency, had penetrated, enough still
remained to vindicate the richness of the fabric and the brilliancy of
the color. The linen on the bed was of the finest texture, apparently the
production of a Dutch loom, while the vessel which held her night-drink
was an antique goblet, indisputably of foreign workmanship,--its
materials silver and mother-of-pearl. Under the window, which commanded
her flower garden, stood a small work-table of birds'-eye maple, which
methought had once stood in the lady's cabin of some splendidly appointed
steamer. Her wash-stand was of mahogany richly carved: on the shelf above
it stood an ebony writing-desk, inlaid with silver; below was a lady's
dressing case--ivory--and elaborately carved. Two cases of foreign birds
of exquisite plumage completed the decoration of the apartment. It is
true necessitous sailors and carousing smugglers might have contributed
some of the costly articles I saw around me; but as I gazed on them the
thought recurred, are not these the wages of iniquity? Have they not been
rifled from the grasp of the helpless, the drowning, and the dying?

"I spoke. She was in full possession of her faculties; but manifestly
near her end. I expressed my sorrow at finding her so feeble; told her
that I had readily obeyed her summons; and asked her whether I should
read to her.

"'Neither read to me,' was her distinct reply: 'nor pray with me; but
listen to me. They tell me I have not many hours to live. If so, I have
something to disclose; and some money which I should wish--I should
wish'--she hesitated and became silent--'the point is, am I beyo