, 1864-07-25

municated, had, in his masters absence,
placed, according to the custom Of printers
in ordinary matters, his masters name at
the foot of the London newspaper! l had
ruined the whole proceedings: all the con-
sequences Of this broken off marriage were
on my head. l had even riveted in this
poor mans mind the certainty of the loss
Of the Mermaid; shame, regret, and self
elimination stung me like adders; and such
was the intensity Of my suffering, and the
darkness, doubt, and confusion Of mind into
which i was thrown, that / was scarcely
conscious of the extraordinary scene still
acting around me. l was called to more
attentive observation by the question of the
man of the law, addressed to Mr.. H,
whether he intended to sign the document,
as an engagement called him away.
"Nop resOunded in my still confused
ears; "why should poor beggar, not worth
one penny in the world, sign bond for ten
thousand pounds? BY and by I will be
grateful for penny to buy me crust of
bread"
The thunderstruck writer, to whom an
account was due by Mr.. H, recoiled at a
statement so extraordinary; the bridegroom,
unjustifably afraid that some improper rse
might be made Of his signature, dartcd for
ward, seized the marriage contract, and,
hurrying out of the door, few from beg
CARED bride. My ears were now stung by
the screams Of the two women, the mother
and the daughter who both tainted on the
floor, and the occasional bursts Of the hypO-
chondriac's sardonic laugh mixing with the
walls Of distress Of the wretched females.
Alarmed by the noise, the servants Of the
house rushed into the room, to administer
assistance to those whose cries seemed so
urgently to demand IL; and contributed
my endeavors to the restoration Of the suf-
ferers. The mother recovered in a short
time, and soon saw the full extent of the
misery that surrounded her; but, being a
strong-minded woman, she defed q repeti-
ton Of the syncopc-an effort in which the
fragile and volatile daughter was not SO
successful; for she no sooner revived from
one swoon than she fell, screaming, into
another; sent back, by the dreadful con-
seriousness Of her condition, into this state
Of heayen-sent, humane oblivion Of misery.
While tending these sufferers, ] threw q
glance occasionally at him who suffered, from
the mere power Of a deluded imagination,
thousand times more than those whose
tender constitution Of body limited the in
Fiction Of agony--him who could not faint
aud could not weep, but who could vet laugh
that dreadful laugh Of the miserable, which
no man can forget who once hears 1t as l
have heard il, but cannot describe it. His
head was now swung over the side Of the
chair, as If be had lost all powered uphold
ing Il; his bosom hcayed with convulsive
throes; his arms sawed the air; his feet
shufiled along the floor, and grOans, mixed
with that horrid spasmodic cackle, burst
from him, piercing the ear like the yells Of
adcmon. Having consigned the women to
the care Of the servants, / left hurriedly
this scene, the moral cause Of which I could
be Of no service in endcayoring to relieve.
However familiar had become withsceues
Of distress, the new and peculiar features
Of the one have here attempted to describe
scared away the apathy Of custom and habit,
and seized my feelings and interest more
powerfully and painfully than / can express
in the narrative have here given.
Next forenoon, called on Mrs. H.,
and found her under great affection. She
told me that her daughter was confined to
bed, and that her sWooning fits returned
upon her whenever her mind acquired power
and sensibility sufficient % estimate the true
extent Of her suffering, for she could not
be made 10 believe that the loss Of the Mer-
maid and the poverty and beggary Of her
father was dream Of hypochondria; and
treated the attempt Of her mother to pro-
duce this belief as q mere actof maternal
sympathy, % conceal from her her deplora-
bio fate In losing lover and the means Of
living at the same time. She informed mo
also that she had seen augustus A.,
who was as obstinate as her daughter 10 his
belief that what her husband had said was
true, giving as his reason that he had never
heard that Mr.. H. WIS mad and pro
cceding 50 far as to accuse her and myself
Of an attempt, BY tho falsifed newspaper,
to get matters 50 arranged as to inveigle
him into match with the daughter Of one
on the eve Of becoming d bankrupt ! re-
piled, that now saw no alternative, in our
efforts 10 cure those ingeniously eontrived
disasters. other than waiting for the captain
Of the Mermaid,s letter Of advice, which
could not fail to arrive in livery short time.
l had scarcely uttered these words, when
Mr.. H-'s clerk handed IN a letter from
Kingston. We were surprised and pleased
"A fIlio cur,oua nofnni1nnea and I nornad