Yet I will go to the castle of Montault," thought Wolf, and I will see the lady Agatha, if possible, only for a moment, whether it displeases her lord or not) and I be discarded for ever from her presence yet! will once more gaze on those lovely features, and feast my eyes on that lovely form, which when a boy so idolized. Then will I bid her adieu for ever, till haply at some distant period that gentle spirit flies to realms of bliss to meet thy kindred angels, which thou so greatly resemblest. Then, Lady Agatha, we may meet again."

But although these thoughts were passing in rapid succession in the tortured mind of Wolf, they were carefully concealed from the knowledge of his protector, or even from Alfred; for the fisher in reply to the short sentence which had escaped from the agitated lips of Wolf, in his usual blunt manner, which he never attempted to disguise on any occasion, vociferated-i

Plain English, why what the devil would you have but plain English from a plain Englishman, I should be glad to know, master Wolf? D-n your foreign gibberish, I say, and all your foreign gentry, who when they come into this country from their outlandish parts, don't know what good manners are any more than ourselves, and call us Englishmen hogs, because we don't fall down upon our knees, and worship them for nothing at all; but shiver my topsails, if ever they catch me at doing any such thing while I have a bit of the blood of an Englishman about me. I say we had enough of your foreign manners when that old cat, the duchess of Braganza, came to live at the Cottage on the Cliff, and wanted her own grand-daughter, as

it turned out, to find a cradle on the bosom of the salt seas; and it was well for poor Agatha that she escaped from the clutches of so kind a relation; and yet when she came first to Cromer, there was no mortal good enough to look at her, because she was a duchess, and came from Italy; but, where she is gone to now, I should be glad to know. Shiver my topsails, if I don't think the devil thought her too bad to have a place even by his warm fire-side, for she would have murdered both the mother and the child as clean as a whistle, but for that kind good man, Captain Singleton. And yet I don't see that he is thought much the better for it by them fine gentry in the castle of Montault.y eid o

. But surely, my dear father, you do not mean to class the Lady Agatha in this black and unworthy list of ungrateful beings? she could not, she cannot be insensibly forgetful of all your former kindness, when, beneath your hospitable friendly roof, you gave her a shelter from the storm, which was blowing with such violence over her devoted head," uttered Wolf, with involuntary warmth and feeling, which certainly had the effect of softening the heart of the fisher. "Oh, sir, I think not; judge not so hardly of that angelic woman. I have heard her speak of you in the solitary exile to which she was driven, when forced from your fostering protection, with such tender animated affection, and with such deep regret that she might never more behold you, that tears have gushed from her lovely eyes, and convulsive sighs have heaved from her lovely bosom,--and of my sister Jessy too, how kindly has she spoken. Dear father, cease to censure the

lady Agatha, I beseech you, I implore you, foroast heaven is true, and holy angels, I believe her true to you,"

Why, shiver my topsails, who is saying any thing against her?" cried the fisher, greatly affected by this account given him of one, whom next to his own children he had loved and treated with the fondest affection; and cramming his pipe with more tobacco than was at all necessary, he added, before he put it to his mouth

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"Bless her little heart, I love her still; and if she wanted a protector again, and a roof to shelter her, as she did when I took her from the Cottage on the Cliff, when we all thought it was all up with poor Singleton, and that he was gone clean to the bottom of Davy Jones's locker, why, shiver my topsails, if she should want it long from Peter Blust. That's all lad, I can't say no more. That's the point of the compass, and you may steer it which way you will. I love the pretty little soul still, though she be turned out a great lady, and married to a great lord."

"And I love her still!" uttered Wolf, with a mournful and almost involuntary expression, which seemed to give some uneasy sensation to his protector, for he instantly exclaimed

"Avast there, though lad:-thou must not love Agatha as when thee was a boy, and the pretty little soul used to pat your cheek, and call you her darling Wolf; and take your part when your sister Olive (God rest her soul!) was cross with you, and all that, you

* A cominon phrase used by sailors.

know ;-but she be married now-and, you be a great strapping fellow-and-and—” filling his pipe afresh, "Shiver my topsails! the less you say of her the better; that's all. Don't be foolish, lad-don't be foolish! she be married-and the grapes be sour,"

The cheeks of Wolf had actually assumed a colour of the brightest crimson, and his heart beat tumultuously; the cause of which he could not exactly define, though probably pretty tolerably guessed at by the fisher Blust; but it had the effect of producing taciturnity on Wolf ever after on the subject of the lady Agatha; and that this lovely creature was now indeed a married woman, and like forbidden fruit, far beyond his reach, often painfully recurred to the recollection whenever his imagination wandered to the happy days passed in her society beneath the roof of his protector, when she also was its inmate; and that such happy days and such happy hours would never again return, occasioned Wolf to heave many a sigh of regret, and to shed many a bitter tear of hopeless despondency. And there were times when the gloomy scenes in the old abbey rccurred afresh to his memory; and although they were scenes of terror and scenes of woe, they were preferable to what he experienced at the present moment of cheerless solitude in the house of the fisher; for Lady Agatha was there, and her lovely presence, like the sun that lights the roses, was the 1. ht that gave buoyancy to the spirits of Wolf, Meanwhile, the generous intentions of Mr. Blust towards his adopted sons, were fully disclosed

to them.

"For look ye, my boys," uttered he one evening

as they sat at supper; "while time is gathering snow fast round my temples, summer buds are only beginning to weave a chaplet round yours. In one word, lads, I am getting old and mayhap. I shall be a sheer hulk before your cock-boats are ready for sailing. I have got a few shiners left, and I want to make them of service to you before I drop off the hooks. Now there is Jessy provided for. I gave her some! thing to keep the pot a boiling, though Sam did not want it; yet as I do suspect, by the look of Jessy's waist, that there is a little cock-boat on the stocks, so it will do for a christening. Then there is Olive, poor wench, she is provided for-" [The fisher here made an affecting pause; and brushed off a hasty and involuntary tear which had started to his eyes, as quick as he possibly could, though not without having re course to a pipe of tobacco as the most expedient way of driving away so painful retrospections. And he slowly pronounced] "and there is no doubt but the vil lain who provided her with the cold bed she now lies! in, has met with a provision too." Another pause en÷1 sued, when his countenance assumed a brighter aspect;1 and he addressed Alfred with, "Well, lad, and now It must think of providing for thee and thy brother Wolf.You must have a small matter to make hay while the sun shines, so lad, tell us what course thee would like to follow? and thee, Wolf, what wouldst like to be?" The question was abrupt and unexpected to both the young men, and not so easy to resolve; but their protector, who could never brook delay, insisted that they would be decisive, in order that he might act accordingly, to forward their future destination..