104 THE HISTURY OF

door of the house, which my mistress had shut,
to keep out the rain, which now beat in very
fast.

My mistress gave me a cup of water, and I
very soon began to revive, and to recover from
the fright into which seeing the Captain so
unexpectedly, when I believed him to be far
away, had thrown me. The Captain seeing me
better, was going, perhaps, to make some ex-
cuse for having caused me so much pain, when
my mistress said, “Come, come, Sir, I will beg
for the girl, that you will say no more to her on
the subject at present. Will your honour con-
descend to take a dish of tea with us? Susan
will be proud to wait on you; and, very
luckily, I happen to have in the house such
fare as I have no need to be ashamed of offer
ing to a gentleman.”

So saying, she placed a chair for the Cap-
tain, and began to busy herself in making tea.

The Captain sat down on the chair which
she had offered him: but never did I see any
one look so sad as he did; he leaned his head
upon his arm, and, for a long time, seemed not
to raise his eyes from the ground.

I should have wondered to have beheld his
sadness, and thought it strange to have seen so
great and gay a gentleman thus cast down, had
I not remembered what my dear Mrs. Neale
had often told me, that, whatever thoughtless
and inconsiderate people might think, God
never, even in this world, suffers the bad to be
happy; those who love not God may sing, and
dance, and make merry, but in the midst of