such a position soon made itself apparent to her whom it most concerned; and she spoke of the necessity of returning to England. This reminded Fitzjohn that Mrs. Graves must soon assume that mourning which was outwardly to denote the loss she had sustained. Again and again, during the brief week for which he had resigned to her his cabin, did he con over the exact words in which to ask her hand, as soon as a proper interval should have expired. But though she might not have loved, he knew she had deeply respected her late husband, and he would not run the risk of making a proposal which might be held indelicate by one who, to a certain degree, was in his power-and, as far as gratitude might go, greatly in his debt. On these grounds, Gentleman Jack now determined to place Mrs. Graves under the care of Jim Bell, in the Hazard, with orders to lose no time in making the Cape of Good Hope, where he might get a convoy to England. As soon as Jane was restored so health, he returned her the box of diamonds, which Graves had appropriated for her ransom. She was, as may well be supposed, much affected at the kindness displayed in poor Graves's last will, and Fitz, on his part, took every care that she should not even suspect the horrible end by which he died. For this purpose, he merely asserted the cause to have been violent congestion of the lungs. When the hour arrived for putting herself and maid-servant on board the Hazard, she endeavoured, as well as her tears would permit her, to assure Fitzjohn of her deep gratitude, and the lasting remembrance she would ever faithfully retain of him, promising to write, without fail, on the the moment of her arrival in England. Poor Fitz himself could only speak in syllables, and nothing kept his eyelids dry but the remembrance that he had to appear before his men. Taking a long last kiss, therefore, of his first love, and taking her in his arms, for she was too much agitated to walk, he carried her on deck, and thence down into the boat, which bore her on board the Hazard. Fitzjohn having given Jim Bell a hearty shake of the hand, watched with an aching heart the passage of the Hazard's boat. A chair was lowered over the side for the fair passenger, the boat hoisted up, and all sail crowded for the Cape. It was now then, indeed, that Fitzjohn felt how much he had lost. Gradually the sails of the Chance's consort grew less and less in the horizon, and soon altogether disappeared. Fitzjohn now turned for relief to those subjects which more immediately required his attention on board his own ship, and which, during the last week, had been so much neglected. In this object he was, for the moment, not a little assisted by Mrs. Pipes making up to him and voluntarily delivering, with her own peculiar "heloquence," a full, true, and particular account, &c., of all she had gone through. From this it appeared that she had somehow or other, probably from some of the seamen's letters, managed to get an inkling of the Chance's great success in the prize-money department; and doubtful whether her lord would think of her in her absence, had determined to, what she called, "work her passage out to the Hinges." In this laudable course she was greatly assisted, |