402 YWENTY-NINTH EVENING,

pressed him in the most urgent manner to take up his
abode there, and omitted nothing that could testify
their dutiful regard to so near a relation. On his
part, he was sincerely glad to see them, and presented
them with some valuable Indian commodities which he
had brought with him. They soon fell into conversa-
tion concerning the family events that had taken place
during his long absence. Mutual condolences passed
on the death of the father; the mother had been dead
long before. The captain, in the warmth of his heart,
declared his intention of befriending the survivors of
the family, and his wishes of seeing the second sister
us comfortably settled in the world as the first seemed
to be. |

“ But,” said he, “ are you two the only ones left?
What is become of my little smiling playfellow,
Ainelia? I remember her as though it were yester-
day, coming behind my chair, and giving me a sly pull,
and then running away that I might follow her for a
kiss. I should be sorry if anything had happened to
her.”

“ Alas! sir,’ said the elder niece, “ she has been

. the cause of an infinite deal of trouble to her friends!

She was always a giddy girl, and her misconduct has
proved herruin. Jt would bean advantage if we could
all forget her!”

“What, then,’’ said the uncle, “has she disho-
noured herself? Poor creature !’’

“T cannot say,’ replied the miece, “ that she has
done so in the worst sense of the word; but she has
disgraced herself and her family by. a hasty, foolish
match with one beneath her, and it has ended, as
might have been expected, in poverty and wretched-
uess.’

“Yam glad,” returned the captain, “ that it is no
worse; for, though I much disapprove of improper
matches, yet young girls may fall into still greater
evils, and where there is no crime, there can be no