me to the brink of the grave; and my slow recovery gave me ample time and opportunity for the examination of myself. Right heartily did I then despise those false dealings by which I had repaid your sincerity; and yet, though knowing how worthless I had been, you were so completely the object of my best sympathies, I could not give you up without a struggle. I felt you were necessary to my existence. I would have gone barefooted over the world to have obtained your pardon. I, the proud, the selfish, the heartless Joanna, would have lowered myself to any humility, and sacrificed everything most dear to woman, to have been restored to your affections. Ah me! all was unavailing. You rejected every overture-you would not forgive; and I was left with a despairing heart and a broken spirit." 66 Indeed, I have forgiven you long since," replied Master Francis, kindly. "And now I do consider myself much to blame in having so spoken to you without better warrant. Dear Joanna, believe me it is all forgiven." And again the hand was tenderly pressed. "Hush!" hastily exclaimed his companion. "Call me not dear.' But everything seemeth to press hurriedly upon me now. I can scarce collect my thoughts in order. Still I will proceed as I best may. Let me return to Don Santiago. I saw him not till I was convalescent, when he seemed so exceeding concerned at my illness, and expressed himself so much more like a friend than a lover on the subject of my evident unhappiness, that after infinite pressing on his part to know the cause of it, I told him so much of our attachment, and your behavior as I thought necessary, and I conjured him to assist in endeavoring to bring about a reconciliation betwixt us. This he readily promised to do; but at the same time expressed monstrous indignation at your conduct-vowing you knew not how to appreciate so rich a prize-a prize worthy of the proudest noble in the land-and much more to the same purpose. He went with a message from me, requesting of an interview, and returned, stating that you rejected such a proposal with scorn and contempt-that you spoke most disgracefully of me; and that he had found out, upon inquiry, you were diligently seeking the affections of a fair damsel in your neighborhood." "I saw no Don Santiago!" exclaimed Master Francis in some surprise and indignation. "Never spoke I'in my life to any one disgracefully of you-and never have I sought the affections of any save yourself." "I believe you,” replied Joanna. “Don Santiago now showed his admiration of me more conspicuously; and spoke with such persuasiveness of the injustice I was doing myself by thinking of one whose conduct proved he deserved not the slightest consideration, whilst some of worthier station, who would be but too happy to show the earnest love they felt for the marvellous excellence I possessed, obtained no sort of regard, that I strove to care not for you, and endeavored to make myself content with the increasing devotion and affectionate attentions of this foreign gallant. Don Santiago had hitherto behaved himself with an appearance of so much delicacy and disinterestedness, that I felt myself perfectly safe with him at all times. 'Tis true, his language became more fond, and his manner toward me more impassioned, but his love came mingled with such exceeding respect, that I could never imagine any sinister intention in him. This good opinion of him led me to allow him such favors as I had allowed others. Ever the most honorable sentiments were on his lips, and his look and bearing were of such a sort as seemed to the full to express the same noble meaning. I suffered his frequent endearments without the slightest alarm. This apparent yielding of myself, the more emboldened him in his advances. Alack, I knew not the villain he was! I had no thought of the danger I was exposed to. All looked honor and sincerity of heart. All breathed of love and the very deepest respectfulness. Miserable degraded wretch that I became, little knew I, with all my cunning, what monstrous craft was arrayed against me; or how soon it might come to pass, that she who had duped so many should herself be the completest wretchedest dupe that ever breathed! I fell— the victim of such base treachery as I dreamed not the existence of. "Not by any consent of mine own!" exclaimed Joanna more vehemently, as Master Francis drew away his hand and averted his face. "I thought not-suspected not the nearness of such dishonor. 'Twas a vile trick-an unmanly stratagem-a very atrocious piece of villany!" 66 "Francis!" she cried with increased wildness, her eyes lighted up with such extreme excitement they looked more brilliant than ever they were; and by clutching at his arm convulsively, raising On "You can not condemn me more than herself from her pallet till her head came | him, it was more pale than before, and on a level with his shoulder. "Francis! was impressed with such anguish as was I feel the hand of death is on my heart. pitiful to look on. I could not tell a lie at such a time. my soul-now going to judgment-there I condemn myself," she replied, speaking was a drug administered in some wine as if with some difficulty. "As soon as without my privity, and I woke from the I became aware of what had happened, torpor it put me into, to find myself in I grew frantic with rage and horror; and mine own eyes as loathsome as a leper. a sense of shame fell upon me that I pray you, in pity's sake, think not so weighed me to the dust. I saw in a momeanly of me as I see you do. Francis! ment, I was irrevocably lost to all honorFrancis! this is worse than death!" able affection, and dared no longer regard Saying this in the most heart-moving ac-you with the slightest feeling of love. cents, she sunk on her face upon the pallet; and nothing was heard from her but violent deep sobs, at intervals of a minute or so, that seemed as if they were rending of her heart in twain. You Don Santiago strove all he could to mollify my anger: and made such protestations and excuses, and seemed to regret so exceedingly what, as he said, the ungovernableness of his passion had led Master Francis had listened to what him into, that he pacified me in some hath been stated, with a flushed and un-measure. But what was I to do? easy countenance; and the quick heaving of his breast and perceptible loudness of his breathing expressed how much he had been moved by the narration. His look, however, had more of pain than distrust in it; and, suddenly, as if he could bear it no longer, he buried his face in his hands and groaned aloud. "Joanna!" he exclaimed, after a silence of several minutes, looking upon her with a grave and melancholy gaze. "It can not be unknown to you, that I loved you in all truth and honesty, and believed you to be the perfectest creature that ever blessed this earth. You appeared of a nature so bountiful in goodness, that I regarded you as a ministering angel sent to be my constant guide and protectress, and I could look forward to no felicity you did not either share or create. My happiness depended on my thinking as I did of you. The moment I discovered or believed you to be other than I had thought, there seemed to be nothing in store for me but wretchedness. Still, however, angered as I was by your behavior, and miserable at heart at it, I have oft entertained a hope that, bad as appearances might have been, at some time or other you would prove yourself guiltless of any dishonesty. To find you untainted was all I prayed for. The consequence of this feeling of mine maketh what I have heard to shock me greatly. It is intelligence of so horrible a sort, that it hath come like a withering blast upon me, and taketh from me all sense and sympathy. But I will not-I can not dwell upon it. Proceed with your narration, I pray you." Joanna did not answer on the instant, and when she did turn her face toward were lost to me for ever; and when the Spaniard pressed me to accompany him to his own country, I thought now it must be all one where I went; and as he earnestly swore he would make me his wife on our arrival in Spain, I trusted in his honor, and embarked on board a ship bound, as I thought, for that country. We had not been out at sea many days, when the behavior of Don Santiago toward me completely changed. From mild and respectful, he gradually became haughty and uncivil. He rated me for my melancholy as if it was a crime; and continually got into monstrous passions of jealousy, swearing I was ever thinking of you. One day he completely threw off the mask. He acknowledged he was no Don Santiago de Luz-he confessed that the ship was not bound for the Spanish coast, and bade me think not of marriage with him, for he was a Jesuit. He was Padre Bartolomé." "Ha!" exclaimed Master Francis, starting up with his face famously flushed. "I had seen him then before. I remember me now, he did call upon me at Sherborne, but with no such name as Don Santiago, and when I saw the villain at Trinidad, I had some faint recollection of his face, but could not call to mind where I had met with him." Master Francis paced the narrow cell for a minute or so, looking very disturbed and angry. "But the caitiff hath gone to his account," said he, as he flung himself back into his seat. ""Tis useless allowing of his villany to move me. Proceed you, Joanna, with what remaineth to be told." "I afterward learned from him and from others, that he was a sort of a spy in the service of the Spanish government," continued the mercer's daughter. "For | padre to the mainland. We sojourned with others who had fled from the island, at a village nigh upon the Orinoco, and seemed to be in safety and in some comfort; but one day, the padre having gone early with a party to a village some leagues off, to procure provisions for our little settlement, there came back one of them with the news, that whilst they were carrying off a young Englishman the padre had set them upon, they had been attacked by a tribe of Indians, and all killed save only the padre and the captive Englishman, who had been taken up the country by the natives; and the fugitive had escaped only because he was at some distance when they made the onslaught, and on the first alarm climbed up a tree. On their departure he caught one of the horses that had strayed from the rest and made for the settlement with all the speed he could. I was sure, from the description of the Spaniard, whom I questioned closely, that it was you Padre Bartolomé had sought to entrap, and the Indians had now hold of. I was in such fear for your safety I scarce knew what to do; but expecting some pursuit would be made, I got of an Indian woman, to whom I had done some kindness, a dress such as she usually wore, and staining myself so as to be of her color, I started under her guidance to the village whence you had been taken, having got all the information I could of the Spaniard and others, of the direction the Indians were supposed to have gone, intending to offer myself as a guide to such as would be looking for you. I found your true friend and the young Indian; and desiring not to be known of the first, and much liking the appearance of the other, I told the prince, under promise of secresy, such of my story as I had a mind to tell. My confidence had all the effect I wished. Pomarra, during my stay with him, treated me with such true respect and delicate courtesy as might have put to shame the behavior of the most finished gallant. What followed is sufficiently known to you. this employment his wonderful talent Joanna was for some time unable to proceed, and seemed to breathe with exceeding difficulty: at last, as with a great effort, she thus continued her narration: "I escaped the same night with the "I did all I could to keep myself from discovery. It was a delight to me, however little I might deserve it, to be so near you, and to know of your safety. I shrunk instinctively from such familiarity as might betray me; but hearing you speak of me as you did took away from me every faculty I possessed, and on my swooning I was discovered. I left you as quickly as I could after that, and hastened to our little settlement, where I had left what property I had. This taking with me, I proceeded to a part of the coast where I was told a small vessel was lying at anchor. I saw the captain: his ship was bound for France. It mattered not to me where I went so that I escaped from that villain Spaniard. I bargained for a passage, and the very first person I met on board was Padre Bartolomé, who had engaged the vessel for his own use. It would be to no good purpose to tell you how he misused me, or to say how I hated him, or how I strove to get myself away from his villanous company; but wherever he went he seemed to have such wonderful influence that all I did was only to put myself the more in his power. We stayed in France but a short time, and then proceeded to England, where we lived at the French ambassador's, with whom the padre appeared on marvellous good terms. He passed me off as his sister; but kept me under such jealous watch, that I never went out of the house, save once to go to the play with him. There I saw you again, and marked you well; but though I noticed your uneasiness, and the interest you took in the play, I had no suspicion of the cause till I gathered from the signs and looks of those around you that you were the author. The next day we took ship for Spain, and after a prosperous voyage landed at Cadiz. Here the padre left me to the care of some in whom he placed confidence, and went to Madrid; but I managed to escape from them, and took refuge in this convent, wherein I intended passing my life in meditation and prayer. The Jesuit, on his return, finding me escaped, lacked no exertion to discover my retreat, the which he at last found; and my noviciate not having expired, he sought by the most moving entreaties to get me to desist from my purpose; and these availing him nothing, took to the horriblest threats, which I regarded with the like indifference, bidding him be gone and trouble me no more. He went, but during your assault upon the city, he got admittance into the convent, and finding me out, thinking none would heed him in the tumult, as I treated him with the scorn and hatred he deserved, he took to dragging me by force in the way you saw. "I care not for having fallen by his dagger," continued Joanna, her voice getting fainter every moment. ""Twas a mercy rather than a punishment. I doubt much had I lived I should have done any credit to the whole community_among whom I had taken refuge; for I found, though I strove ever so, I could not become so religious minded as seemed necessary. My meditations were all of you-my prayers were all for you. Yet, in the solitary contemplation of my own unhappiness, I had ever one consolation. It was the belief that you were in the enjoyment of that prosperity your many excellences deserved. Francis, this was indeed a pleasure! I could think of no other pleasant thing. Miserable and degraded as I was an outcast and an alien-with a mind almost maddened, and a breaking heart—after wearing out the long night on my knees, beseeching every blessing might be showered upon you, Francis!-I felt the sweet conviction steal upon me that you would be--must be-happy; and it brought with it a comfort that left me naught to wish for but the grave." Master Francis again took the hand he had before held, and his eyes looked humid as he turned his gaze upon his companion. Although Joanna seemed quite exhausted, and was gasping for breath at the close of her speech, the moment she felt his hand pressing her own, she snatched it to her lips, and covered it with her caresses, with such sobs and tears as would have moved a heart of stone. It was evident he was also in tears. He looked a moment irresolute; and then, as though the influence of old impressions were not to be resisted, suddenly bent down and caught her up in his arms. Francis!-dear Francis!" she exclaimed in a faint voice. "Now I also am happy!" 66 Master Francis was too much moved to speak. Indeed, his feelings were of that tumultuous character that left him not even the ability to think. He was aware only that the heart of the being he had loved was beating against his breast, and remembered only the many noble things she had done in his behalf. For a few minutes he lost all sense of sur rounding objects; and was first awakened to consciousness upon finding that Joanna's heart did not beat against his own. On unclosing of his arms, he saw at a glance he had embraced the dead! THE English armament was now on its homeward voyage, being nigh upon Cape St. Vincent. The victors brought with them, beside the two galleons and the spoil of Cadiz, divers wealthy prisoners, and forty hostages, for the due performance of the ransom; and afterward having landed at a town called Faro, which they took, did bring away with them the library of a famous ecclesiastic -one Osorio, Bishop of Sylves. Master Francis and Harry Daring were sitting together in a secluded part of the main deck. There was, as often happened, a marked contrast between the two; the face of the former being paler than usual, and of a settled melancholy, whilst the features of the other were lighted up with a wonderful animation. Harry carried his arm in a sling, showing that he had a wound of some kind; but to look at the cheerfulness of his countenance, none would have believed it was any great matter-yet it had been cut to the bone with a halberd. It appeared he was relating to his friend what he had seen of the taking of Cadiz. 'It was a horrible march that over the sands," exclaimed Harry; "but at last, I being with Sir Walter, who was carried on men's shoulders till my lord-admiral lent him a horse, entered the town with our colors flying very gallantly, and soon came up with my Lord Essex, who was fighting in the market-place surrounded by enemies. As ill luck would have it, the villains made but little resistance after we came. I managed however to get into the thick of the fight before it was all over, and got me this thrust in my arm; whereupon I paid the caitiff who did it so handsomely. I doubt not he was as thoroughly satisfied as ever a dead Spaniard could be. The town now being our own, Sir Walter, who had hitherto rode with us on horseback, suffering much from his wound, returned to the fleet, but I was left with the rest to help keep possession of our conquest. Then came the sack. Now I did think the taking of the galleon was as exquisite fine fun as could be known; but the sacking of Cadiz beateth it hollow. Methinks all the houses in the place in the twinkling of an eye were turned inside out into the streets; and our men began a plundering away like a troop of half-starved mice just broke into a malthouse. There was such shouting and laughing as I never heard before;-some guzzling rare wines with as little discretion as an apprentice might swallow small beerothers devouring the choicest cates as greedily as a litter of pigs taketh to a feed of grains. They who cared not so much for eating, stuffed their trunks with whatsoever valuables came nighest to hand, and then filled their hats, and then loaded themselves with as much as they could carry. Perchance coming away and meeting with something they liked better, they disgorged what they had about them, and took to burthening themselves with the choicer commodity. Here you might see one fellow wrapt up in the costliest silks knocking out the head of a cask of raisins, and a little way on, another in a famous robe of gold brocade, diligently sucking of a wine-barrel. In an incredible short time the principal streets were covered with almonds and olives, figs, raisins, and spices, which were kicked about and trampled under foot, and mixed with streams of wine and oil, left running out of casks that had been broken to see what they contained: and upon these were bales of stuffs and articles of furniture of great value, that had been abandoned for less bulky or more attractive plunder. But the next day I saw a sight that put me into such a humor I could take pleasure in nothing." What was that, Harry?" inquired Master Francis. 66 66 This was it," replied the other. "Sir Walter had sent at day-break into the town to get orders from the lord-general that he might go and secure the Indian fleet-which might easily have been done but he got no answer; and whilst my lord admiral and others were disputing with the Spaniards about the ransoming of these ships, the monstrous horrible villains set fire to them all; and there were burned nearly forty sail of as excellent fine vessels as Christian might wish to see, laden with choice merchandise for Mexico. Well, it be a certain sure thing that they who set them afire will get a like burning themselves some of these days-that's one comfort." His companion did not answer to this. Indeed he was too intent upon his own contemplations to pay it any regard. 66 Hast noticed this Colonel Harquebus, |