that our deception may be visited upon us by hearing that you are ill. Write, dearest father, constantly; for our comfort depends entirely upon the sight of your dear and valued letters. I saw Mr. Disney yesterday, and I am happy to tell you that everything is going on favourably with regard to our affairs; therefore, dear father, keep your mind as tranquil as you possibly can. Mr. Disney intends writing in a few days, and you will find from him, that time will do much in lessening your present difficulties. We cannot expect to see our beloved mother better until after her confinement, but then we trust firmly in God's providence that she will recover. I never leave her, and am, I can assure you, almost as good a nurse as yourself; at least, I endeavour to walk in your steps. You may depend upon our dear mother not wanting any comfort. The children are all well, with the exception of poor little Rose, whose great delicacy appears rather to increase than diminish. Sweet Evelyn continues our comfort and our stay; you could scarcely believe were I to tell you all that she does for us. She is thoughtful and prévoyante in the extreme; and yet you will be glad to hear that she can still indulge in those merry laughs which never failed to make you smile. Edwin is a dear good little fellow, and is getting on famously with his Latin." Such was the tenour of the letters Captain Cecil received. His good children studied every word before they committed it to paper, fearful that they might say too little or too much. In this manner they endeavoured, and with success, to keep his mind in a degree at ease, and little did he imagine what these young creatures really had to encounter for although Herbert's account was so far true, that Evelyn's gaiety of heart, which was so inherent to her disposition, did at times : enable her to laugh; oftener, much oftener, did she weep; and her last trial, which took place, of course, after Herbert's last letter was despatched, left her for a long time in a state of suffering and dejection. Captain Cecil's great comfort now consisted in being able to talk for hours to Monsieur Liot about his wife and children. He showed him their pictures, and those beautiful representatives of this lovely family could not fail to touch the heart of the kind old man. They made him feel, almost with a pang, how great must be the power of parental joy, which could thus lighten the most gloomy of exiles; and he could almost have envied his friend the possession of such children. He read their letters, and admired the noble style of their writing, while every day he became more and more absorbed in interest and sympathy for every member of the Cecil family. Now that Captain Cecil was restored to the former energy of his character, he did not sit down in idleness to contemplate his grief. He anxiously turned his thoughts to the best manner in which he could make himself most useful to his family; now that the dread of a disgraceful arrest kept him from their presence, he wrote in a more business-like manner to his solicitor, giving him many useful hints as to the arrangement of his affairs, where before all was chaos and confusion. He was a man of talent and of education; and having often thought of writing a work of professional reference much required in. the Navy, he now seriously commenced its composition, sending to England for those books necessary for the undertaking. He also made arrangements with a London publisher with whom he was well acquainted, who engaged to take of him lighter articles for magazines, and of which the small profits, in the humble manner in which he now existed, served |