settlers in these islands, or their descendants, attracted by the fame of the Western Hemisphere, wandered thither and took up there a permanent abode; others, among whom were the ancestors of Vasquez, preferred a quiet heritage within the soft, sunny retreats of these insulated shores. The fertility of the soil, the salubriousness of the clime; the aromatic airs, breathing from groves of ever-blooming flowers; the happy position, moreover, of the Canary Cluster, in the track of the fleets, outward bound, or returning with the riches of Peruvian mines, and the spices of the more distant east,-these various advantages made a residence on these spots so desirable, that a home there came no longer to be looked upon in the light of banishment, nor removal from the land of their fathers, a separation of pain or of sacrifice. No greener isles gem the ocean; no shores, embosomed in emerald waves, salute with lovelier aspect the sun in his rising. Happy the dwellers on those little sea-girt domains, whose tranquility has seldom been invaded by the stormy influences of those distant wars, which have so often swept and ravaged the territories of either hemisphere; doubly happy, if erst their frank and courteous hospitality had never been abused by the greeted guest, to wound the peace of those affections, of whose unsuspecting warmth he was made the unworthy object. Calmly and contentedly the ancestral family of Vasquez in their successive generations had lived. They were blessed with a competency that put them above ordinary vicissitudes, until the period of the disastrous checks of all colonial trade produced by the spreading wars resulting from the revolution of regicide France. The lucrative commerce, which had flowed through the channel of the Canaries then ceased. Vasquez was himself a conspicuous sufferer. Reduced in wealth, yet, rich in conscious integrity, the inheritance of good birth, and an unbroken feeling of independence, he still continued to occupy the same reputable sphere in society to which he was born. An amiable family of daughters repaid the solicitudes of a fond parent in their behalf, with the tenderest devotedness of affection. Isabel, one of these, was a maiden of touching loveliness of face and person, possessed of a singular sweetness of disposition and manners, and a heart warm and susceptible. The latter communicated a slight tinge of enthusiasm to her character, heightening the general interest, which a first acquaintance with her other engaging qualities inspired. The fervid suns of sixteen summers, which her age had numbered, had embrowned her dimpling check; yet, uniting with the glow, which youth and health and buoyant spirits imparted, they lent her the complexion of an attractive brunette, the charm of whose features was completed by the sparkling lustre of dark and joyous eyes. Montfort saw and admired her; and, yielding to the influence, which his heart at once felt when brought within her presence, he sought her society and the sweets of a frequent converse. Such intercourse, with a creature so fair, and so love-inspiring, could not fail, in no long time, to ripen admiration into a deeper and softer sentiment. Montfort's inclinations, though fickle, were susceptible of quick and lively impressions; and, though purity had no seat in his soul, it is probable that, in the present instance, his attachment took the complexion of an honorable affection; and, despairing of making the possessor of so much grace and innocence his own on any other terms than those of virtuous, wedded

love, he conceived the project of such proposals as might be listened to with propriety, and place him in a situation to claim her as bride should his affections wear a stability. While these thoughts were passing in his mind, days and weeks of intoxicating bliss stole by with feathered step. The charm of hospitable courtesies within the delightful abode of Vasquez,-the social entertainment, the gay song and the light dance,-rural promenades in the embowered walks without, and the occasional romantic drive,-these and various other amusements succeeded in cheerful round, and Montfort felt, or fancied himself, happy.

As he was possessed of no unprepossessing person and address, and as his attentions were marked and constant to the innocent object of his growing attachment, Isabel, from the moment she perceived the interest she inspired, and marked the warmth of that interest daily augmenting, began to view her suitor with feelings of complacency, and a natural return of affection was the reward of the preference which Montfort manifested. A stranger to the arts of coquetry, and the practised lures well known in the crowded saloons of fashion,—with a bosom ignorant of guile, and unsuspecting of deceit or change in others,-she yielded to the impulse of her heart, and the whole warmth of her ardent soul repaid love for love.

As time thus waned, the season of opportunity was wasting to obtain a favorable disposal of the Mermaid's valuable freight. Intelligence was brought of the demands of a certain mart in the west of Europe, for the chief commodities which the cargo comprised, and the captain urged repeated and respectful solicitations, that the voyage might forthwith be resumed, and be prosecuted thither. Montfort at length saw the propriety of this, and resolved, seriously, upon leaving the enchanted isle. The hope of securing a father's approbation, which motives of selfishness, in the absence of all other considerations, might be enough to produce in the mind of common reflection, and the desire of obtaining future opportunities of indulging a wandering taste, to which he found himself thus early attached, were inducements to him to listen favorably to the suggestions often repeated, and to seek the port already intimated. When this intention was made known to Vasquez and his family circle, kind regrets were expressed for the necessity of Montfort's departure, but no obstacles were thrown in his way, no solicitations to induce a change in his determination. It was naturally deemed that he best understood his responsibilities, and what duty required of him; and the kind friends, in whose society he had passed so many happy hours, prepared themselves to acquiesce in the speedy. separation announced. The feelings of Isabel may, indeed, be conceived; her heart was at length unveiled to her, and she saw that her peace and happiness were wholly in Montfort's disposal; but she hid her emotions, or at least did not indulge their utterance, and the sighs, or the tears, which escaped her, were breathed, or shed, in retirement.

Montfort, however, was otherwise resolved than to part from so lovely a creature if any means presented themselves of inducing her to follow his fortunes. He availed himself of an occasion to make formal declarations of his love, and protestations, if his addresses were accepted, to make Isabel his own,-his wedded, honored bride, as

soon as circumstances should admit of this step. He represented the propriety of communicating first with his father, whose consent, nevertheless, to his marriage, he doubted not of obtaining; but alleged that it was expedient that, in addition to the opportunities of education she had already enjoyed, which, though the best that her native isles offered, were necessarily inferior to those obtained in the polished kingdoms of France or England, higher facilities ought to be placed within her reach. With this view, in order, moreover, to her acquiring a familiar acquaintance with his own language, along with other accomplishments, to fit her the better to enter the sphere, which he finally proposed for her, he urged the request that Isabel would accompany him in charge to the port whither he was shortly to proceed, to be established in some suitable seminary, till such a time as he could claim her under the fond and sacred title of wife. He besought the assent to this, not only of the fair maiden, whose inclinations already pleaded in his favor, but of him to whose counsel she ever looked as law; and, to give Vasquez higher proofs of his perfect fairness, and the sincerity of his heart, he pleaded permission to exchange a solemn affiance of future marriage with the daughter, which guarantee, if unredeemed on his own part, would subject him to the criminality of blackest perfidy. What placed his intentions above all distrust, and rendered them apparently the most honorable and highminded, Montfort further proposed that a younger sister of Isabel should go with her as a companion, for whose comfort and education he would in like manner make provision in the interim till the marriage.

The proposals were at length assented to; Montfort plighted his sacred vow one day to lead to the hymeneal altar the blushing young creature, who, in return, was affianced to him, and the necessary arrangements for the departure of the now happy Isabel, and the scarcely less happy Annette, were soon completed. Leave taking only remained. The pain of this, keen as it was to Vasquez and the other members of his before unbroken little family, was naturally diminished to the fair sisters, one of whom felt that she was thenceforth to have a protector for life in the person of her loved Montfort, and both anticipated romantic delight from the new scenes in the wide world shortly to open upon them. They experienced much the same joyousness of animation in quitting the isolated territories wherein their peaceful lot had been cast, that the feathered warblers of their own isles are wont to manifest when temporarily released from their wiry prisons to flutter in the free air. A few pearly drops rolled from their suffused eyes when they threw a last look on the sweet and verdant shores now receding from the ship's gallant track; but the thought of pleasures soon to be tasted amid other scenes, and of shores prouder, if haply less lovely, that ere long would be viewed, upheaving themselves from the blue main, restored cheerfulness to their hearts, and the glancing light of smiles shortly succeeded to the passing shades of sadness.

The voyage was attended with no accident. Propitious gales filled the swelling canvas; and the Mermaid bounded blithely over the gentle waves as though conscious of the new and precious charge which she bore. Montfort observed a becoming decorum in his attentions, and Isabel and Annette knew not as yet what sorrow was.

The haven was now approached. The bold promontory, which marks its entrance, was seen lifting its brow above the green and heaving surge, and at length the ship was safely moored within the circling shores of a bay, which expands its bosom to the fleets of every nation.

In the neighborhood of H— a desirable retreat for Isabel was found— a seminary, managed by a kind and accomplished governess, who took the charge of a limited number of misses, instructing the elder in the higher branches of a polite education, and receiving such rather in the light of companions than of pupils. Her affectionate little sister-the sweet-tempered and sprightly Annette-was placed in the same abode, and a new vista of happiness seemed opening to their view.

Montfort was a frequent visitant; and, in his interviews with Isabel, renewed again and again declarations of impassioned love, and avowed an impatience under the cruel delay,—so he termed it,―of the period when he could call her his by the tenderest earthly ties. He spoke of her to all as his destined wife, as already his own by solemn verbal betrothment, and Isabel was regarded as questionless the bride elect of Montfort.

His stay at H- was protracted for some weeks, during which, however, circumstances occurred, which developed to the eyes of many the deformity and recklessness of his character. He found there incentives to many irregularities that were denied opportunities of indulgence among the comparatively primitive and virtuous residents of those secluded isles he had so recently left. His early depravation of tastes revived on the baneful aliment presented anew, and, by rapid relapse, he fell into divers shameful excesses. Still he was noticed and flattered by not a few, who knew by report the distinguished respectability of Montfort's father, and whose attentions to the son were a tribute of deference to the parent's honored name. In the families of these he was presented to several brilliant fair ones, the superior finish and studied display of whose attractions seemed to reproach the modest unobtrusive beauties of the simpler Isabel. His vain and fickle heart gradually opened to new impressions, and his attachment to the confiding innocent, whom he had conducted to a land of strangers, began first to fluctuate, and next to cool. The love, contrarily, of that pure being knew no other change towards him than that of daily augmenting fervor. His indiscretions, to apply no harsher term, reached not her ear; and had they been reported they would have gained no credence in a bosom that could not admit a thought derogatory to him whom her soul loved. In her eyes he was all excellence. She dreaded, moreover, no abatement nor wavering in his affections, for she measured their strength and fidelity by the conscious fervidness and unchangeable durability of her own. Guileless herself, she suspected and dreamed not of possible deception in another so entirely dear.

Though Montfort's visits, therefore, became less regular and frequent, Isabel imputed the circumstance to some good cause, and regretted the change only as a deprivation in part of what had constituted her chief pleasure. When he appeared, she but redoubled her own expressions of gladness and affection, and, instead of chiding, sought only to solace one, whose attention she supposed was, in the intervals of absence, anxiously occupied by the cares of business. If,

in his manner, there was more of an air of hurry, and less of a lover's warmth than she had been wont to observe,—if an impatience to abridge the periods of interview was occasionally perceived, still her love was a stranger to alarm, and peace was no less an inmate of her bosom. Did he hint at times that obstacles unforeseen might prevent his father's sanction of a union with one so utterly unknown to him as the gentle creature, who, nevertheless, with hope of such sanction, had been wooed away from home, and kindred, and country! the faint shade, that flitted across her mild features, was succeeded by the beaming expression of confidence in her own Montfort; nor could she doubt that the same paternal indulgence, whereon he had so often expatiated, would yield compliance with any wish or representation of a son so endeared. But the time was approaching, when her love was to be put to a severer test than she had yet known, or the ardor of any common attachment could have sustained.

Montfort, having resolved on a homeward voyage, and every arrangement for that purpose being completed, met Isabel on a final visit. She received the intelligence of his immediate departure with a gush of grief. Even he himself felt or well feigned a sadness suited to the occasion, yet sought to soothe the afflicted girl with tender, and honest accents. He reminded her that his return to America was necessary to bespeak and ensure his father's approval of the engagements he had formed with her. He encouraged her with the prospect that the period of their mutual separation would be short, and gave repeated and the strongest assurances, that, however protracted in any event its term should prove, one happy effect of absence would be a constant increase of his own affections for his lone and doubly-deserving Isabel. She listened, and assumed composure along with a certain degree of cheerfulness. Perchance, doubting not the painfulness of her Montfort's feelings, she struggled the more to subdue or disguise her own, anxious lest concern for herself might deepen the sadness, which already she believed was preying upon his heart. But was it the presentiment of evil to come,-the influence of which the drooping spirit well knows, when often it is unable to define it,-that gave languor to every smile which essayed to play from her sweet lips? The heart it is, which is conscious of its own bitterness, and its firmness may effectually be unmanned by shadowy forms of impending ill, whose agency is no less imperceptible to itself than to the eye of others. In the present case, the partial melancholy, so soft and touching as it was, which stole over her features, communicated to them new interest, and Montfort silently felt that never had Isabel appeared more engagingly lovely, than in those moments of approaching separation. At length, the deferred adieu was exchanged, and Montfort turned from the abode of the saddened exile, the door of which he was never after to enter.

Isabel was left but scantily supplied with funds. Promises, indeed, were liberally made of timely and suitable remittances; how these were fulfilled, the sequel will show.

After a prosperous voyage, Montfort was restored to the paternal roof. He was welcomed with affectionate warmth on his return, and the results of the voyage appeared, at least in a pecuniary view, to have been sufficiently satisfactory to his provident parent.