CHAPTER XVII. As letters some hand hath invisibly traced, When held to the flame will steal out on the sight, So many a feeling that long seem'd effaced, The warmth of a meeting like this brings to light. "So we are to see you a Benedict at last, Mr. Devon!" exclaimed a gentleman past his meridian, who was listlessly reclining on a couch, as he knocked off the ashes of his Havana. "Your fidelity has stood the test of long absence, and well deserves to be rewarded. And when, think you, am I to have the pleasure of offering a welcome to my fair niece? She is still ignorant, I presume, of having an uncle and a cousin in Jamaica, almost as anxious to see her as her affianced can be ?" "The difficulty of making very long explanations by letter, and a doubt of the effect such information might have upon her mind, have assisted me in fulfilling my promise of secrecy," rejoined Mr. Devon. "But conscience has given me some terrible twitches for concealing the truth. Dear Matilda! she is so artless and candid herself, that it seems a positive crime to practice any species of deception upon her." "I have occasionally listened to your praises of my niece with some slight distrust," resumed Mr. Austin, "for the little deity of the dart and wings plays sad pranks with the eyes and judgment of lovers; but the testimony you have borne to her many excellent qualities has been lately corroborated by a more credible witness. To welcome her to my roof will be one of the happiest events in my strange and chequered career!" "The vessel in which she embarked," resumed Mr. Devon, "has now been out more than two months, and may be looked for immediately. The captain is the most skilful in our service, the ship the most sea-worthy. Even now, amongst the many sail that crowd the offing, she may be one. By the aid of this telescope we can probably discern her." Mr. Austen was the owner of a stately mansion at the base of the lofty mountains of Liguanea, in Jamaica; it commanded a splendid view of Kingston, even at that period an extensive town, whose long lines of streets, stretching in every direction, might be traced from the heights, as in a map, and of Port-Royal, one of the finest harbours in the world. In mid-distance lay the beautiful plain of Liguanea, diversified with coffee bushes, luxuriant cane fields, groves of mangoes, and cocoa-nut trees, sugar works here and there, emitting their threads of smoke that rose almost perpendicularly in the clear bright atmosphere,-negro villages scattered amidst the fruit trees on the hill side, and the white houses of the overseers in the valley beneath. The scene combined variety with grandeur and repose; the verdure of spring with the exuberance of autumn. The window near which the friends were seated, sipping sangaree, in all the indolence of after-dinner enjoyment, was shaded by a verandah covered with festoons of creeping plants that admitted only a softened light; stray branches played in the breeze, and threw their dancing shadows on the floors and walls, giving a kind of life to the sleepy twilight of the room. Pimentos crowning a neighbouring ridge, and orange blossoms, clustering round the open casements, sent in their delightful odours in rivalry of the fragrant pines that graced the table. Frederick Devon, with all the ardour of a lover whose passion absence has strengthened, and who is speedily to clasp in his embrace the girl of his earliest, fondest affections, kept a constant eye upon the in-coming shipping, and in a few days after the above conversation he had the gratification of pressing to his heart the object of his love-his gentle, high-minded, handsome, and accomplished Matilda. To her goodness the elements paid the same compliment as they are said to have done in former days to the Moor's choice,-the "divine" Desdemona; they became courteous in their manners, and hardly whispered beyond a breath in her ears. The voyage had been somewhat protracted, in fact, "by rude Boreas, blustering railer" keeping his mouth shut, U and reserving his squalls for materials ruder than the exquisite sample of feminine perfection committed to his charge. After an interval of nearly six years, during which, although they regularly corresponded, and poured-on paper-the tenderest sympathies into each other's bosoms, the meeting, it may be conceived, was one of those genuine bursts of joy and confidence which can only happen once in a life or so, while the feelings are young and warm. "My dear, dear Matilda," said the enraptured young man, "this is a happiness for which I am grateful to Heaven! I have never ceased to think of you, my sweet one. In my hours of business, as in my moments of leisure,-in society or in solitude,-abroad or at home, in health or in sickness, you are the angel to whom all my thoughts were directed-on whom all my hopes and anxieties were fixed. Bless you! how pretty you look, notwithstanding the fatigues of this protracted voyage!" "Believe me, my dearest Frederick, I have always deeply reciprocated your love, and ever relied on its purity and truth. And you are scarcely altered !— a little embrowned, certainly, by this tropical sun, but much less changed, love, than I expected to find you. O, I am very happy, dear Fred. in being once more by your side! With you I feel a degree of security and hope which I cannot express, but which consoles me for much past misery." In order to make the contrast more striking, Mr. Devon led his blushing bride through the dirty irregular town of Kingston, and having a conveyance ready at the outskirts, drove her without delay through the beautiful scenery at which we have glanced above, to the handsome, well appointed mansion of Mr. Austen, whom he represented as a friend that he had become intimately acquainted with during his sojourn in Jamaica. It was a lovely morning-the face of nature as placid and smiling as a lake on whose surface the rays of the sun are dancing in merry pastime. The oppressive heat had given way as they approached the hills, to a delightfully refreshing breeze, to inhale which seemed like drinking in new life. The generous Mr. Austen, whose house overlooked all the roads for miles round, was sensible of their approach, and had arranged the preliminaries of the reception with almost dramatic effect.. The introduction was strange "Mr. Austen, I present to you Miss Matilda Carlos, a young lady of whom you have sometimes heard me speak. I hope, at no distant day, to claim her as my own in the church yonder, at the foot of the hill. She has a title to your consideration which will surprise her as much as it must gratify you-she is your own niece, the daughter of your only brother!" The feelings of the young lady, from whom this information, thus briefly but pointedly communicated, had been studiously withheld, were naturally |