cupied. As it was the usual sitting-room of Mr. Howard, the most terrible apprehensions seized the mind of the affrighted girl, who trembling, and nearly fainting with emotion, sought the servants' apartment.

CHAP. II.

But oh! the heavy ohange! now thou art gone,
Now thou art gone, and never must return!

Many are the sayings of the wise,

In ancient and in modern books enroll'd,
Extolling patience as the truest fortitude;
And to the bearing well of all calamities,
All chances incident to man's frail life,
Consolations writ

With studied argument, and much persuasion sought,
Lenient of grief and anxious thought;

But with th' afflicted, in his pangs, their sound

Little prevails, or rather seems a tune

Harsh, and of dissonant mood from his complaint;

Unless he feel within

Some source of consolation from above,

Secret refreshings, that repair his strength,

And fainting spirits uphold.

MILTON.

ALL the lessons of fortitude and

pa

tience, the early friends of Louisa had instilled into her mind, were insufficient to support the afflicting intelligence she obtained on gaining the apartment occupied by the domestics.

"Dear Miss!" exclaimed the venerable old housekeeper, (starting from her chair, and advancing to embrace the beloved adopted child of her lamented master,)" at what a melancholy time you have returned; had you come a few hours sooner, you would have seen him alive, but, alas! it is all over the best of men is gone, and these aged eyes shall never again see any thing like comfort!”

Who is gone? what do you speak of?" cried Louisa in breathless agitation, and gazing wildly on the countenance of the weeping matron: " say not it is my father, my friend, my beloved protector ! Oh! do not kill me by such information ! You could not have been so cruel as to let him lay ill and die, without having sent to tell me of his danger!"

"We did send an express off this morning," sobbed Margeret, "but it was too late: a few hours after the man's departure, my dear master was seized with a

fit which carried him off without even a sigh. He was not aware of his danger till yesterday, when he desired you should be sent for and, even then, was afraid of alarming you unnecessarily, as he said he thought it likely he should linger for some months."

She might have continued talking without interruption: Louisa was incapable of doing it; she sat, the pale image of despair: no tears came to relieve her bursting heart, or allay the burning agony of her brain: a cold dew sat on her temples; and a shivering seized her limbs.

Alarmed by symptoms so dangerous, poor old Margeret forgot the immediate cause of her grief, in anxiety for her dear young lady, for whom she felt an affection almost maternal. She had been present at the birth of Louisa, and had nursed her with the tenderest care. The sweetness of her disposition had endear

ed her to all the dependents of Mr. Howard, but more particularly to old Margaret, to whom Louisa was very much attached on account of her fidelity to Mr. Howard as well as her kind attention to herself.

By the care of the worthy old housekeeper, Louisa recovered from a violent fever, that, spite of her excellent constitution, it had been greatly feared, would have precipitated her to an early grave.

During her illness, which had lasted some weeks, the last mournful duties had been paid to the sacred remains of her respected friend: the weakness and languor it had left, rendered her mind less irritable, and more resigned to the inevitable fate that awaited her, cast as she now must be on the protection of strangers, or the exertion of those talents she possessed for her support.

Her only consolation was, as she ad