The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1853-08-18

that Alice Herbert's heart could have
received and though it did not heal the
wound, it tranquilized its aching.
Mrs. Herbert, though not rich, had
not been altogether portionlcss, and her
small fortune was all that Alice now con-
descended to call her own There had
been, indeed, a considerable jointure,
but that Alice renounced from feeling
that will be understood. Economy,
however, was now a necessity; and after
taking a passage in one of the cheapest
vessels she could find bound for Quebec
"a vessel that all the world has heard
of, named the st. Lawrence-she set out
for the good city Of Bristol, where she
arrived in safety on the 9th Of May,
lS3-.
We must now, however, turn to the
history of Henry Ashton
1t was just after the business in Can
ada was settled, that he entered a room
in Quebec, where several of the officers
ofhis regiment were assembled in various
occupationt-one writing letter to go
by the packet which was just about to
sail, two looking out at the window at
the nothing which was doing in the
streets, and one reading the newspaper
There were three or four other journals
on the table, and Ashton took up one of
them. AS usual, he turned to the re-
cord of the three great things in life,
and read, first the marriages-then the
deaths; and, as he did so, he saw
" Suddenly, at his house in Portland
Place, William Anthony Herbert, Esq"
The paper did not drop from his hand,
although he was moved and surprised :;
but his sensations were very mixed, and
although, be it said truly, he gave his
first thoughts, and they were sorrowful,
to the dead, the second were given to
Alice Herbert, and he asked himself, |
" Is it possible that she can ever be
mine She was certainly much agitat-
ed when left :"
" Here's bad business - cried the
man who was reading the other paper
" The Hcrberts are all gone to smash,
and | had six hundred pounds there
You are in for it, too, Ashton. Look
there They talk of three shillings in
the pound"
Henry Ashton took the paper and
the account Of all that occurred in Lon
don, and then took his hat and walked
to head quarters. What he said Or did
there, is nobody's business but his own,
but certain it is, that by the beginning
of the very next week, he was in the
gulf Of st. Lawrence. Fair winds watt
ed him soon to England; but in St
Georges Channel all went contrary, and
the ship was knocked about for three
days without making much way. A fit
Of impaticnce had come upon Henry
Ashton, and when he thought of Alice
Herbert, and all she must have suffered
his heart beat strangely. One of those
little incidents occurred about this time,
that make or mar mems dcstnies. a
coasting boat from Swansea to Visions
came within hail, and Ashton tired of
the other vessel, put portmanteau, a
servant, and himself, into the little
skinner of the seas, and was in few
hours landed safely at the pleasant water
ing-place Of Wistcn super mare. 1t
wanted yet an hour or two Of night, and
therefore a post-chase was soon rolling
the young officer, his servant, and his
towards Bristol, on their
way to London. He arrived at a rea-
sonable hour, but yet, some one of the
many things that fills inn, had happened
in Bristol that day, and Henry drove to
the Bush, to the Falcon and the Foun-
ain, and several others, before he could
get a place of rest. At length, he found !
wo comfortable rooms in small hotel =
lear the port, and had sat down to bis
upper by warm fire, when an Irish
'ailor put his head into the room, and v
lsked if he were the lady that was to go :
lown the St. Lawrence the next day
Henry Ashton informed him that he was a
lot a lady, and that, as he had just come S
rom the St. Lawrence, he was not going
back again, upon which the man with C
lrew to seek further. n
Ten, eleven, twelve o'clock struck, b