whose real title was wavering between the epithets of "Mistress Settler" and "Moll Heggety."

"Woman!" said he, in a calm but severe tone, “leave the ship instantly." "Not 'till I have a word with Ned," she answered, in a tone in which her natural impudence seemed strangely softened by the awe which the presence of the captain inspired.

"Leave the ship, I say," cried he, in a voice of thunder.

"Bless your honour,” said she, "let me stay to have one word with Mr. Settler."

"Go instantly," said the captain, " or I must have recourse to harsher means. Down below there!-pass the word for the master-at-arms!"

The old emigrant, whom the captain had left in the cabin, attracted, probably, by the noise of the altercation, at this moment made his appearance upon deck. She staggered towards him, and said, Speak a word to the captain, will ye now, to let me bide a blink, to get a word with Ned."

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Do you know this person, Sir?" said Captain Morley, somewhat sternly, to the old man.

Know her, your honour! Lord bless you, why shouldn't I know her! Why she's Edward's wife!"

Impossible!" said Captain Morley; "I know her to be a woman of the most abandoned character!"

The old man's cheek grew pale as ashes, and his mild eye flashed with indignation.

"Captain Moarley," he said-and there was a native dignity in his air and expression-"you are master here, and I am old and feeble; but there was a time when you would not have dared to say this-ay, not even on the boards of your own ship! Come, Mary," he continued, laying hold of Moll's brawny arm, "let us go, this is no place for us."

"Where are the side boys?" cried a voice from a boat that, at this juncture, pulled up to the side of the ship, and the next moment the first lieutenant jumped on to the deck. I shall never forget the look of bewilderment with which he contemplated the group before him. His face first became deadly pale and then burning red; but not a syllable escaped his lips-his

utterance seemed choked by astonishment. His sudden appearance, indeed, equally surprised us all, and some seconds elapsed before his aged father, dropping the woman's arm, advanced and extended his hand towards him.

"Have years changed me so much, Edward," he said, as his eyes filled with tears; "have years changed me so much that you have forgotten your old father?"

The voice of the venerable man seemed to recall his son to consciousness. His embarrassed look disappeared, and gave place to his usual harsh expression, unsoftened by a single touch of joy at thus, unexpectedly, meeting his parent.

"Forgotten you, old man!" he said, in a tone which he wished to appear careless; "no! not forgotten you; but I certainly am mightily puzzled to think what contrary breeze has drifted you to this quarter!"

You are not, then, glad to see me!" said the old man, in a voice in which sorrow and disappointment were blended.

Why, as to that, glad enough. But what the devil is it that has brought you just here, of all places in the world?"

"Misfortune, my son, has brought me here," said the old man, with a sigh. God grant that you may never have occasion to obey so stern a taskmistress!"

"What! spent all your money! lost your land! Well, you know I always told you, you lived too extravagantly!"

The tears which filled the old man's eyes, streamed down his cheeks at these unfeeling words, and he trembled violently, as he said, "Edward, have I deserved this at your hands ?"

"Well, well," said the lieutenant, "to be sure every man has a right to do with his own as he thinks proper; but if you look to me for assistance, I am sorry that it is not, at present, in my power to

"I look for assistance from no man!" replied the father, stretching himself up to his full height, while a glance of independence and conscious uprightness gleamed across his features, "and depend upon it, I shall never seek it from you!"

Mr. Settler," said Captain Morley,

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as

"I call this woman your wife, Sir," replied the old man with energy; such you sent her to me, and as such has she been these six months an inmate of my family, and the companion of your mother and sisters!"

"Do you know the character of this woman, Sir?" said Captain Morley to his lieutenant, while he struggled in vain to conceal the ineffable scorn which he felt.

"Yes, Sir, I do," replied Settler, with a look of forced composure. "Is she your wife?"

Then, Sir, were you base enough to impose her on your confiding father as your wife, and send her to become an inmate of his family?"

"You really take the matter too seriously, Sir," said Settler, endeavouring to deprecate the wrath of his superior; "I assure you it was only meant as a joke. The truth, if it must be told, was, that I owed an account at the Blue Boar, and I had nothing to pay it; and so, as she was breaking up her establishment, I offered her a year's lodging to clear all scores; and so I gave her a letter to my father; but I meant it as a joke; I never thought he would have been fool enough to believe her."

"Did you introduce her to your father's family as your wife, Sir? answer me immediately."

remptory," said Settler, endeavouring to appear calm,-" suppose I answer that I did!"

The old man had listened to the latter part of this dialogue with the most engrossing attention. He hung upon his son's replies with an eager earnestness which showed the interest he felt; and as the true nature of the woman's character began to dawn on him, his face grew ghastly pale, and his whole frame shook with emotion. Still he uttered not a word, but kept his gaze rivetted on his son's countenance. But when the last fearful admission was made he could no longer restrain himself. Clasping his hands before his breast in an attitude of supplication, while the tears flowed down his furrowed cheeks, and his long white hair hung loosely over his shoulders, he exclaimed in a voice of agony so truly heart-rending as wellnigh to move the bystanders to tears: "Edward! thou lyest! I trust in God thou lyest!"

A broad brutal laugh, at which every one present shuddered, was all the reply he received. But it was enough. His hands fell upon his bosom, his eyes became fixed, he tottered, reeled, and fell upon the deck in a state of insensibility. Captain Morley was at his side in an instant, and raised him in his arms. With one knee resting on the deck, and his right hand supporting the head of the fainting old man, he bent over him, gazing with a look of unfeigned commiseration on his ashy features.

"Out of my sight, Sir!" he cried at last in a voice of thunder, stretching out his left hand with an impatient gesture towards the lieutenant; "out of my sight! I dare not trust myself to look on you just now!" Then turning round to the master-at-arms, he continued, "Dismiss that woman instantly from the ship; do you hearinstantly! Mr. Lascelles send for the doctor-bid him make haste. God of heaven, what a sight is this!"

The conscience-stricken lieutenant shrunk before the fiery eye of his indignant commander, and withdrew below. The old man was removed and laid in a hammock, where, by the assistance of the doctor, he was soon restored to his senses. Captain Mor

ley hung over his sick-bed with the anxiety of a son, and saw the remedies applied under his own inspection. I was sent on deck to see if the woman

was gone, and just arrived in time to catch a glimpse of the boat that contained her as it pulled off from the side of the ship.