hap you think your life is of greater value than any body's else."

Montalva did not reply, and the sailor left the cabin; the haughty temper of the count would have prompted him at any other moment to resent what he would have termed the man's insolence: but his spirit was at this moment so completely humbled, that he scarcely felt it; he went upon deck; there, all were busily employed. Ashamed to appear inactive, he took a turn at the pump; in a short time the storm abated, and the captain (an old experienced seaman), assured the passengers that their danger was over.

Nothing could exceed the joy which this intelligence caused, they embraced and congratulated each other with transport; Montalva alone, did not participate in the general happiness, he could not lift his heart in humble gratitude to the Giver of all good; he dared not re turn thanks to that Almighty Power,

who had thus snatched him from an

untimely death.

"Never before did I feel myself a coward (said the captain), but it is only last year (continued he, addressing one of the passengers), that I lost my son, and his widow and three helpless babes have, since that time, been wholly dependant upon me; for myself, it matters not whether I go to my last account now, or a few years hence; I have looked death in the face too often to fear it, and I trust in the Divine Goodness to pardon those frailties incident to our nature; but when I thought of leaving my poor Fanny, and her helpless little ones to that unpitying world, where I myself have met no mercy, I could have wept like a very woman. Oh! how rejoiced shall I be, to clasp my poor girl again in my arms, and to hear the little ones as they cling about me, lisp out their joy at my return.”

.

This speech was a dagger to the count, "All, all, save me, (thought he) have some object, for whom they wish to live, but I am a solitary wretch, a wanderer on the earth; why then do I continue to exist? What can I have to suffer in another world, worse than I now endure?" For a moment the idea of suicide crossed the mind of the wretched Montalva, and with all the inconsistency of guilt, he now regretted his escape from that death, which not an hour before he would have given worlds to avoid. He retired to the cabin, to meditate upon his dread ful purpose, but the agitation which his mind had undergone affected his frame, and in a few hours he was delirious.

The captain paid him every attention. that humanity could suggest, and by the time they reached the British shore, he was out of danger; but weak as infancy. In this state he was removed to a hotel, and the worthy captain, anxious as he was to embrace his daugh

ter-in-law, and his grand-children, would not leave him for a few days, till he was less an invalid.

The heart of the count, though naturally bad, was not wholly inaccessible to the feelings of humanity; and he felt grateful for the disinterested kindness of the rough, but honest seaman; as soon as Montalva was able to go. abroad, the captain hastened to embrace his family, who lived in retirement a few miles from the metropolis.

"If I thought that your lordship could put up with very humble accommodation (cried he to the count), I am sure that change of air would be of service to you, and would find my daughter an excellent nurse."

you

This invitation Montalva did not hesitate to decline; a calm scene of domestic happiness, was not one in which he was likely to taste of peace; he expressed a wish to see Captain Sterling upon his return to London, and he forced upon the tar, a much larger sum

than that he had agreed to pay for his.

passage. count endeavoured to amuse himself with a survey of every thing curious in the splendid and busy metropolis of the first commercial city in the world, and had not his mind been diseased beyond the power of cure, he would have been pleased with the novelty of all that he saw; but the barbed arrow was doomed to wrankle for ever at his heart, and he found peace as unattainable in the midst of the gaieties of London, as in the solitude of D'Rosonio's castle.

As soon as he was able, the

The count had arrived in England a short time previous to the commencement of a general election, and as he was one day walking towards Covent Garden, he saw a crowd assembled ; and struggling to get out of it, was a young woman, who was nearly fainting. "Pray, for Heaven's sake! let me pass" (said she), but the mob intent