ear Mr Vanslyperken,_

"Pity me, pity me, O pity me! Alas! how soon is the cup of
bliss dashed from the lips of us poor mortals. I can hardly
write, hardly hold my pen, or hold my head up. I cannot bear
that, from my hand, you should be informed of the utter
blight of all our hopes which blossomed so fully. Alas! alas!
but it must be. O my head, my poor, poor head--how it swims!
I was sitting at the fireside, thinking when you would
return, and trying to find out if the wind was fair, when I
heard a knock at the door. It was so like yours, that my
heart beat, and I ran to the window, but I could not see who
it was, so I sat down again. Imagine my surprise, my horror,
my vexation, my distress, my agony, when who should come in
but my supposed dead husband! I thought I should have died
when I saw him. I dropped as it was, down into a swoon, and
when I came to my senses, there he was hanging over me;
thinking, poor fool, that I had swooned for joy, and kissing
me--pah! yes, kissing me. O dear! O dear! My dear Mr
Vanslyperken, I thought of you, and what your feelings would
be, when you know all this; but there he was alive, and in
good health, and now I have nothing more to do but to lie
down and die.

"It appears that in my ravings I called upon you over and
over again, and discovered the real state of my poor bleeding
heart, and he was very angry: he packed up everything, and he
insisted upon my leaving Portsmouth. Alas! I shall be buried
in the north, and never see you again. But why should I, my
dear Mr Vanslyperken? what good will come of it? I am a
virtuous woman, and will be so: but, O dear! I can write
no more.

"Farewell, then, farewell! Farewell for ever! Dear Mr
Vanslyperken, think no more of your disconsolate, unhappy,
heart-broken, miserable

"ANN MALCOLM.

"_P.S._--For my sake you will adhere to the good cause; I
know you will, my dearest."

Mr Vanslyperken perused this heart-rending epistle, and fell back on his
chair almost suffocated. The woman, who had stood in the passage while
he read the letter, came to his assistance, and pouring some water into
his mouth, and throwing a portion of it over his face, partially revived
him. Vanslyperken's head fell on the table upon his hands, and for some
minutes remained in that position