seal up my papers, and transmit them to the office of his Majesty's Secretary of State. They breathe no treason, madam, aud are entitled to official protection. The house, and most of the furniture, as you know, are the property of my landlord, who, in due time, will doubtless take charge of his own interest. I kiss your hand, Miss Alice, and I hope we shall yet meet at St. James's-depend on it, madam, that the Royal Charlotte shall yet honour your merits; I know she cannot but estimate your loyalty."

"Here I was born, in humble obscurity-here I have lived, and here I hope to die in quiet," returned the meek Alice; " if I have known any pleasure, in late years, beyond that which every Christian can find in our daily duties, it has been, my sweet friends, in your accidental society.Such companions, in this remote corner of the kingdom, has been a boon too precious to be enjoyed without alloy, it seems, and I have now to exchange the past pleasure for present pain. Adieu! my young friends; let your trust be in Him, to whose eyes both prince and peasant, the European and the American, are alike, and we shall meet again, though it be neither in the island of Britain, nor on your own wide continent."

"That," said Col. Howard, advancing and taking her hand with kindness," that is the only disloyal sentiment I have ever heard fall from the lips of Miss Alice Dunscombe! Is it to be supposed that Heaven has established orders among men, and that it does not respect the works of its own formation! But adieu; no doubt if time was allowed us for suitable explanations, we should find but little or no difference of opinion on this subject."

Alice did not appear to consider the matter as worthy of further discussion at such a moment, for

she gently returned the colonel's leave-taking, and then gave her undivided attention to her female friends. Cecilia wept bitterly on the shoulder of her respected companion, giving vent to her regret at parting, and her excited feelings, at the same moment; and Katherine pressed to the side of Alice, with the kindliness prompted by her warm, but truant heart. Their embraces were given and received in silence, and each of the young ladies moved towards the boat, as she withdrew herself from the arms of Miss Dunscombe. Col. Howard would not precede his wards, neither would he assist them into the barge. That attention they received from Barnstable, who, after seeing the ladies and their attendants seated, turned to the gentlemen, and observed

"The boat waits."

"Well, Miss Alice," said Borroughcliffe, in bitter irony, "you are entrusted, by our excellent host, with a message to his agent; will you do a similar service to me, and write a report to the commander of the district, and just tell him what a doltay, use the plainest terms, and say what an ass, one Capt. Borroughcliffe has proved himself in this affair. You may throw in, by way of episode, that he has been playing bo-peep with a rebellious young lady from the Colonies, and, like a great boy, has had his head broken for his pains! Come, my worthy host, or rather, fellow prisoner, I follow you, as in duty bound."

66

Stay," cried Griffith; "Capt. Borroughcliffe does not embark in that boat."

"Ha! sir; am I to be herded with the common men? Forget you that I have the honour to bear the commission of his Britannic Majesty, and that "

"I forget nothing that a gentleman is bound to

remember, Capt. Borroughcliffe; among other things, I recollect the liberality of your treatment to myself, when a prisoner. The instant the safety of my command will justify such a step, not only you, but your men, shall be set at liberty."

Borroughcliffe started in surprise; but his feelings were too much soured by the destruction of those visions of glory, in which he had been luxuriously indulging for the last day or two, to admit of his answering as became a man. He swallowed his emotions, therefore, by a violent effort, and walked along the beach, affecting to whistle a low, but lively air.

"Well, then," cried Barnstable" all our captives are seated. The boat waits only for its officers !".

In his turn, Griffith walked away, in haughty silence, as if disdaining to hold communion with his former friend. Barnstable paused a moment, from a deference that long habit had created for his superior officer, and which was not to be shaken off by every burst of angry passion; but perceiving that the other had no intention to return, he ordered the seamen to raise the boat from the sand and bear it bodily into the water. instantly obeyed; and by the time the young lieutenant was in his seat the barge was floating in the still heavy, though no longer daugerous surf, and the crew sprang into their places.

The command was

"Bear her off, boys!" he cried; "never mind a wet jacket. I've seen many a worthy fellow tumbling on this beach in a worse time than this! Now you have her head to sea; give way, 'my souls, give way."

The seamen rose simultaneously at their oars,

and, by an united effort, obtained the command of their boat; which, after making a few sudden ascents and as many heavy pitches in the breakers, gained the smoother seas of the swelling ocean, and stemmed the waters, in a direction for the place where the Alacrity was supposed to be in waiting,

CHAPTER XIII.

His only plot was this-that much provoked,
He raised his vengeful arm against his country.

Thomson.

ALICE DUNSCOMBE remained on the sands, watching the dark spot that was soon hid amid the waves, in the obscurity of night, and listening, with melancholy interest, to the regulated sounds of the oars, which were audible long after the boat had been blended with the gloomy outline of the eastern horizon. When all traces of her departed friends were to be found only in her own recollections, she slowly turned from the sea, and hastening to quit the bustling throng, that were preparing for the embarkation of the rest of the party, she ascended the path that conducted her once more to the summit of those cliffs, along which she had so often roved, gazing at the boundless element that washed their base, with sensations that might have been peculiar to her own situation.

The soldiers of Borroughcliffe, who were stationed at the head of the pass, respectfully made way; nor did any of the sentinels of Manual heed her retiring figure, until she approached the rear guard of the marines, who were commanded by their vigilant captain in person,