"Shiver my topsails, if she does though!" said Peter; "Zounds! have you no mercy on the dear girl, cousin Craftly! you have talked her now into a high fever about your cuffs and your ruffs, and your capes, and your furbelows."

66

Why, lord, kinsman, we women must talk about something," cried Margaret, and smiled

"That you must, Meg," answered the fisher, as he prepared to take his seat at the table; "and, when once you begin, the devil himself cannot stop you!"

CHAPTER XII.

"Come, braid for me the simple tress,
That curls so wildly round thy brow;
Beneath whose arch of loveliness,

Thy bright blue eyes are beaming now:
And place this wreathe of flow'rets there,
To form some emblems sweet for me;
I chose them, for I thought them fair,
But find them not so fair as thee."

On the return of the family party to Herring Dale very little conversation was exchanged on either side, and in a few moments they retired to their respective chambers, but not before the fisher had bade Miss Singleton good night in his usual kind manner, Jessy

always following his example; but Olive, whose jealous fears had only lain dormant for a short time, was now again roused against an object, so pure, so innocent and so spotless, that celestial angels might have been witnesses to all her actions, and still looked down with approving smiles; and the cold good-night and distant curtsey were neither unfelt by the lovely Agatha, or unnoticed by the sweet Jessy, the cause of which was too well known to her, and painful and agonizing were the reflections of this amiable girl, when she considered how hopeless was the attachment which her sister had conceived for one whom she felt well convinced never could return it. That Olive loved in vain, she had long known; and that she herself was the object on whom Leontine Craftly had placed his affections, she was also fully sensible of, and her throbbing heart but too consciously confessed that such a conviction was not unpleasing to her, though she vainly tried to conceal the passion that triumphed in her heart, and she as vainly endeavoured to imagine that friendship had only found a place there, yet the little urchin-winged boy, who shoots at random quivers from his bow, had been too certain in his aim, when he glanced at poor Jessy, and she loved Leontine long before she was conscious of what nature were the sentiments with which he had inspired her ;-and it was a moment of indescribable anguish to the amiable and affectionate girl, when she was aware of the deep-rooted passion which had taken place in the bosom of her sister for her cousin Craftly, since Olive absolutely thought herself the mistress of his affections; and it was also a source of no small regret to Jessy, that Miss Singleton was

selected as the victim of her ill-grounded jealousy, the trifling attentions he had paid to her, and to which so excellent a creature was entitled from her exclusive merits, resulting from the purest motives of humanity, and the benevolence of his disposition; and while these painful emotions filled the heart of Jessy, and kept her from enjoying her peaceful slumbers, not more pleasing ones occupied the mind of Agatha, as, in retiring to her chamber, she seriously turned her thoughts to the occurrences of the day, and there was more than one circumstance which had given her pain.

The conduct of her little favorite, who was likely to become a very disagreeable inmate in the house of the fisher, and for whom she felt a growing partiality, the nature of which she could not account for, occasioned her to feel a great share of uneasiness on his account, in the fear that he would in time weary out the patience and good humour of his benevolent protector, and by continually behaving rude to his eldest daughter, induce him at last to send the poor boy away from his friendly roof; and what could her entreaties then avail ?—if she pleaded for Wolf a second time, it would be thought that she wished to encourage him in the improper freedom he had taken with Miss Blust; and if poor Wolf was banished from her sight, she felt that her abode at Herring Dale would be rendered extremely uncomfortable; the cool manner, too, in which Olive had bade her good-night, and her previous conduct at the house of her amiable kinswoman, portended nothing very pleasing while she remained under the protection of the fisher, as she could not but perceive that she was the object of

her jealous fears respecting her cousin, Leontine Craftly, from whom she neither wanted, nor was at all ambitious of receiving any particular attentions other than common politeness demanded; for, though a very pleasing and prepossessing young man, still Agatha felt that he was greatly her inferior, and that her birth and education had taught her to look higher than to the son of a fisherman, even in the supposition that she was the object of his pursuit; but Agatha was not blind, and soon began to discover that the real object of this young man's repeated visits to Herring Dale was the sweet and unassuming Jessy, and that, though he evidently laboured to conceal his passion for his young and lovely kinswoman, that his glowing admiration of her daily increased; but her observation of Jessy was not so successful, for nɔ look of her's betrayed that Leontine was beloved by her, and Agatha almost doubted whether this lovely girl was conscious of her cousin's ardent attachment towards her, much less could she divine the cause, or see the necessity of Craftly's attentions being always so conspicuously directed to the elder sister, when the younger was in possession of his affections: it was a sort of system of conduct which she could not voluntarily approve, and certainly was not a point in favor of Craftly, who, if his views were honorable, had no reason to be ashamed of selecting such an object as Jessy for his choice; and as he could not love both sisters, she thought it highly imprudent, and systematically cruel, in paying attentions to the one whom he actually did not love, and therefore had no intention of marrying, unless it was a stratagem only to inspire an interest in the heart of Jessy, by making

her sister apparently her rival, and certainly it had such an appearance, which occasioned Agatha to form no very favorable opinion of the sentiments or principles of Craftly, as such conduct was decidedly against honor, delicacy or feeling, and the consequences likely to be most detrimental to the peace of the fisher's family, whenever a discovery should take place of the real object of Leontine's pursuit; and haughty and unamiable as Olive confessedly was, Agatha yet regarded her as a being more to be pitied than condemned, but was fully determined, that, whatever motives Craftly had for adopting such conduct towards the two sisters, that she would not be the third in giving a colour to such duplicity, but utterly repel all advances made to her by Craftly, in any shape but that of the most distant civility, and that if Olive Blust had began to fear a rival in her, she should very shortly find herself mistaken.

All these reflections, blending also with some painful retrospections of her dear lamented father and her unhappy orphan state, kept Agatha from sleeping, insomuch that her attendant, Claribelle, frequently heard her deep-drawn sighs, and, urged by her affections for her beloved young mistress, could no longer remain silent; (for by the express desire of Agatha, Claribelle always slept in her apartment ;) and she exclaimed,

"Dear Miss Agatha, what has made you so restless? I protest that you have not closed your eyes the whole of the night! or if you have, sleep has not refreshed you; I have heard you sigh too, heavily, as if your heart was breaking; pray pardon me, my dear young lady, for making the enquiry, but I cannot bear