write to you, on my own responsibility—for I
think your presence is needed in the house.

"Early in the mouth, a most regretable
circumstance took place. Our new parlour maid
was discovered by Mr. Mazey, at a late hour of
the night (with her master's basket of keys in
her possession), prying into the private
documents kept in the east library. The girl
removed herself from the house the next morning,
before we were any of us astir, and she has not
been heard of since. This event has annoyed
and alarmed my master very seriously; and to
make matters worse, on the day when the girl's
treacherous conduct was discovered, the admiral
was seized with the first symptoms of a severe
inflammatory cold. He was not himself aware,
nor was any one else, how he had caught the
chill. The doctor was sent for, and kept the
inflammation down until the day before yesterday
—when it broke out again, under
circumstances which I am sure you will be sorry to
hear, as I am truly sorry to write of them.

"On the date I have just mentioned—I mean
the fifteenth of the month—my master himself
informed me that he had been dreadfully
disappointed by a letter received from you, which
had come in the morning from foreign parts,
and had brought him bad news. He did not
tell me what the news was—but I have never,
in all the years I have passed in the admiral's
service, seen him so distressingly upset, and so
unlike himself, as he was on that day. At night
his uneasiness seemed to increase. He was in
such a state of irritation, that he could not bear
the sound of Mr. Mazey's hard breathing
outside his door; and he laid his positive orders on
the old man to go into one of the bedrooms for
that night. Mr. Mazey, to his own great regret,
was of course obliged to obey.

"Our only means of preventing the admiral
from leaving his room in his sleep, if the fit
unfortunately took him, being now removed, Mr.
Mazey and I agreed to keep watch by turns
through the night—sitting with the door ajar,
in one of the empty rooms near our master's
bed-chamber. We could think of nothing better
to do than this—knowing he would not allow us
to lock him in; and not having the door-key in
our possession, even if we could have ventured
to secure him in his room without his permission.
I kept watch for the first two hours, and then
Mr. Mazey took my place. After having been
some little time in my own room, it occurred to
me that the old man was hard of hearing, and
that if his eyes grew at all heavy in the night,
his ears were not to be trusted to warn him, if
anything happened. I slipped on my clothes
again, and went back to Mr. Mazey. He was
neither asleep nor awake—he was between the
two. My mind misgave me; and I went on to
the admiral's room. The door was open, and
the bed was empty.

"Mr. Mazey and I went down stairs instantly.
We looked in all the north rooms, one after
another, and found no traces of him. I thought
of the drawing-room next, and, being the most
active of the two, went first to examine it. The
moment I turned the sharp corner of the
passage, I saw my master coming towards me
through the open drawing-room door, asleep and
dreaming, with his keys in his hands. The
sliding-door behind him was open also; and the
fear came to me then, and has remained with
me ever since, that his dream had led him
through the Banqueting-Hall, into the east
rooms. We abstained from waking him,
and followed his steps, until he returned of
his own accord to his bed-chamber. The
next morning, I grieve to say, all the bad
symptoms came back; and none of the
remedies employed, have succeeded in getting
the better of them yet. By the doctor's advice,
we refrained from telling the admiral what had
happened. He is still under the impression
that he passed the night as usual in his own
room.

"I have been careful to enter into all the
particulars of this unfortunate accident, because
neither Mr. Mazey nor myself desire to screen
ourselves from blame, if blame we have deserved.
We both acted for the best, and we both beg
and pray you will consider our responsible
situation, and come as soon as possible to St.
Crux. Our honoured master is very hard to
manage; and the doctor thinks, as we do, that
your presence is wanted in the house.

"I remain, sir, with Mr. Mazey's respects and
my own, your humble servant,

"SOPHIA DRAKE."

V.

FROM GEORGE BARTRAM TO MISS GARTH.

"St. Crux, April 22nd.

"Dear Miss Garth,—Pray excuse my not
thanking you sooner for your kind and consoling
letter. We are in sad trouble at St. Crux.
Any little irritation I might have felt at my poor
uncle's unlucky interference in Portland-place,
is all forgotten in the misfortune of his serious
illness. He is suffering from internal inflammation,
produced by cold; and symptoms have
shown themselves which are dangerous at his
age. A physician from London is now in the
house. You shall hear more in a few days.
Meantime, believe me, with sincere gratitude,

"Yours most truly,

"GEORGE BARTRAM."

TAKEN PRISONER BY THE TAEPINGS.

FOR nearly nine years I was engaged in the
counting-house of Siouchang, living at
Chantseou, a small town about five hours' walk from
Shanghai. During the whole of that time I
never spoke to a European, and only once saw
one. Siouchang was a dealer in silk, which
he used to receive from agents, and afterwards
sell to native merchants or foreign dealers,
and it was chiefly in his transactions with the
latter that I was engaged. It was seldom that
business required me to go to Shanghai; our
mercantile transactions being conducted through
the medium of correspondence; but I